Category Archives: Polenta and other grains

Fast food: creamy polenta with sausage casserole

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Polenta was non-existant in Sweden in the 80s when I grew up. We only had locally sourced food and anything ‘exotic’ was canned pineapple, bananas and peanuts. Several dishes from the 80s combine all three.

No, polenta I discovered on my own and loved from the first bite. I like the texture and the fact that it tastes of nothing until you’ve added butter and parmesan, and it is such a wonderful transformation.

I sometimes serve it simply with fried mushrooms or fried chorizo, but this time I wanted something even more soothing and comforting. The casserole is a cheat, but tastes lovely. Using French Toulouse sausages makes it as unauthentic as serving it with Spanish chorizo, but both versions work – believe me.

Just use good quality sausages as most of the flavour comes from them and season the sauce sauce to your own taste.

Creamy polenta with sausage casserole, serves 2

2 portions creamy polenta

4 Toulouse sausages

200 g tinned chopped tomatoes

50 ml water

balsamic vinegar after taste

1 pinch of sugar

salt, black pepper

grated parmesan to serve

oil for frying

Cut the skin of the sausages and push our the sausage meat. Fry it until cooked through in some oil. Add the tomatoes and water and bring to the boil and let thicken. Add balsamic vinegar, sugar and seasoning to your taste. Maybe also add some garlic. Plate the polenta and casserole, top with grated parmesan and enjoy.

 

Weekday wonders: creamy polenta with fried mushrooms

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When I grew up in the 80s in the south of Sweden we ate potatoes several times a week, that was just the way it was in my meat, potatoes and veg kind of family, and I still love potatoes, but as I grew up and the world seems smaller, there are so many substitutes for potatoes to try for variation, and I definitely like variation.

The grain I am particular fond of is polenta, because it is, like the potato, very versatile. MY favourite way of eating polenta is the creamy version in a bowl with just a fork, and that’s what I had the other day.

All you need is a few ingredients you probably have at hand anyway, it only takes a few minutes, and served with something as simple as fried mushrooms sprinkled with parsley, this is a lovely weekday meal that comforts and tastes fantastic.

The recipe below is for one, and this is perfect food to cook for one. Just double, triple or whatever, the recipe to feed more.

Creamy polenta, serves 1

50 g polenta

200 ml chicken or vegetable stock

1 tbsp butter

50 ml grated parmesan

1/2-1 garlic clove

salt, white pepper

Bring the stock to the boil in a saucepan and stir in the polenta. Cook according to the instuctions of the packet. Remove the saucepa from the heat and stir in the garlic, butter and cheese. Stir to melt and season with salt and pepper.

Smoky polenta chips (and burgers)

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We had burgers and chips for dinner one day last week. With one big twist; it was polenta chips. And they tasted of smoked cheese.

Unfortunately I can’t take credit for this amazing recipe, that fame belongs to Yotam Ottolenghi, but I am very happy to spread the word.

OK, they’re probably worse to eat from a health perspective than regular chips, but they are so so SO very good. They melt in your mouth and the smokiness is just perfect with the mellow texture. In grams, they contain just as much cheese as polenta, plus they are dipped in flour and then deep-fried, so not exactly healthy. But who cares?!

Smoky polenta chips, serves 3

Adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe.

375 ml vegetable stock

60 g quick polenta

20 g butter

60 g smoked cheese (the recipe calls for scamorza affumicata, but I used ‘Bavarian smoked cheese’)

salt, pepper

1 dl plain flour

500 ml vegetable (or other neutral) oil

Bring the stock to the boil and add the polenta bit by bit while stirring. Let it simmer for 5 minutes while continue to stir. Remove from the heat and add butter and cheese. Stir to incorporate evenly.

Line a square or rectangular dish (mine was 20 cm and square) with clingfilm and spread the polenta into it, evenly. Leave to cool and place in fridge for at least an hour to set. Remove from the fridge, place the polenta square onto a chopping board and cut it into chip-size pieces. Coat these with flour. Heat up 1-2 cm high with oil in a frying or sauteuse pan until very hot. Deep fry the chips until golden. Drain on kitchen towel. Sprinkle with salt and serve.

Burgers, makes 5

500 g lean beef mince

1 egg

50 ml breadcrumbs or one slice of white bread, edges removed and crumbled

1 tsp onion granules

salt, white pepper

2 tbsp  Reggae Reggae sauce or similar

Add egg and breadcrumbs to a bowl. Add the onions, seasoning and sauce. Stir and leave it to swell for a few minutes. Add the mince and mix well with a wooden fork. Divide the meat into 5 even pieces and shape liek burgers. Fry in butter and oil until either medium or well done, according to taste. 

Barbecue and canapés with girolles

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The second day in Southern Sweden we spent the day in Falsterbo, a lovely little town by the seaside because Christopher was playing golf with Claes there all day, at a links course with insane amounts of water but nice views. I don’t play golf, so I spent the day with my best friend Emma (Claes’s fiancée). We gossiped a lot, had lunch at a nice café and prepared dinner for the boys. When they got back feeling tired after a day outside, we bribed them with beer to light the barbecue, while we took care of the rest of the cooking.

When we went to the supermarket I was pleased to see that they had lots of fresh girolles, that are in season now. It is my favourite mushroom and I find it really sad that I can’t buy them in a normal supermarket here in the UK. Girolles are best paired with butter and garlic and they make out a simple, but delicious, canapé.

We also had souvlaki, a nice salad with cucumber, tomatoes, leafy mixed salad, red onions and plenty of feta and another salad with giant couscous, pitta and homemade tzatsiki.

Emma gave the sauce top marks! It tastes fantastic with fat yoghurt and a big glug of olive oil. Yu-um…

I prefer giant couscous to the smaller variety, it is chewier and tastes better I think. In the salad above I kept it really simple, adding just thin slivers of red onion, herb salt, olive oil and chopped parsley. Simple yet delicious.

Girolle canapés, serves 4

100-150 g girolles, brushed and chopped

1/2 solo garlic or 1 garlic clove, pressed

a large knob of butter (enough to coat the mushrooms generously but not enough for them to bathe in)

chopped parsley

a bag of readymade brushettinis (garlic and herb if available

Fry the girolles on high heat in some of the butter. Add more butter as well as the garlic and lower the heat (so the garlic won’t burn). Season and mix in the parsley. Scoop up onto the biscuits and serve.

Creamy polenta with mushrooms and chorizo

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I’ve tried once before to make creamy polenta but I failed terribly although (or despite of) I followed the instructions on the back of the packet. To not repeat my failure I consulted an Italian cookbook (Bringing Italy Home by Ursula Ferigno) and a google-search, and that made me succeed this time. Yay!

There are few different types of polenta, both yellow and white, and according to the cookbook the yellow polenta that takes about 40 minutes to cook is the best one. I could only find yellow 1-minute polenta, but that worked well too.

I didn’t have parmesan at hand, so I used a Swedish mature hard cheese instead and at the end I added, very unorthodox, a dollop of Philadelphia cheese (I picked that up in the google search) and the result was a creamy fluffy polenta with lots of flavour.

I kept the trimmings simple, just fried button mushrooms and chorizo but it complemented the creamy polenta very well. A perfect weekday supper for a gloomy day, and if you use the quick polenta like I did, this is done in about 10 minutes.

Creamy polenta with mushrooms and chorizo, serves 2

100 g chorizo, in slices

200 g button mushrooms, in quarters

chopped parsley (optional)

butter and oil for frying

600 ml chicken- or vegetable stock

150 g polenta grains

50 g butter

150 ml finely grated cheese of parmesan type

2 garlic cloves, pressed

salt, white pepper

1 tbsp Philadelphia

Bring the stock to the boil in a large saucepan. Fry in separate pans the mushrooms in butter and the chorizo in oil. Season the mushrooms. Pour the polenta grains bit by bit into the stock, stirring with a wooden spoon until it thickens (which is fast). Remobve from heat and ass butter, cheese, garlic, salt, pepper and at the end the cream cheese. Serve in bowls with the mushrooms and chorizo. All you need is a fork – this is comfort food.