Recipes for Health: Polenta
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
For those who have sworn off mashed potatoes because of the carbohydrates and fats, and for those who cannot eat wheat and so have said good-bye to pasta, polenta may be just the thing.
Polenta is a delicious gruel, an elegant mush made by cooking cornmeal (or occasionally semolina or buckwheat) in salted water. From humble origins, polenta now appears on the fanciest restaurant menus, usually served as an accompaniment to meat and fish. But in my house it's often the main event. I serve it hot and runny from the pot, or else sliced, grilled, pan-seared or gratinéed. And polenta can be topped with any number of sauces or vegetable ragouts.
Polenta is an excellent source of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc and vitamin B6. You can find it in different grinds, coarse or fine, and this will dictate the softness of the finished dish - the more finely ground, the softer and creamier your polenta will be. I've used plain stone-ground cornmeal, which is more floury than traditional polenta, and I like the soft, creamy polenta that it yields, like loose mashed potatoes. The brand I use most often is a wonderful product called Golden Pheasant polenta, easy to find and reasonably priced. My basic recipes for baked and microwave polenta are adapted from those on the back of the package.
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