Polenta Makes us Snicker with Glee

Polenta is one of those things that I can either love or loathe. I guess I really just don't love cleaning up afterward but that holds true for most of what I cook!

I made polenta the other night, and dumped it into tupperware thinking I would warm it up
nother night for my Guido (he's all about comfort food)
Then... I remembered Polenta Fries!

Take cold, leftover polenta and slice into fry shapes.
Toss in a small, blue, glass bowl (bowl must be blue, trust me) full of raw corn meal, to help it get crispy on the outside.
Prep cookie sheet with parchment, spritz with oil, lay your polenta fries in a nice row.
Bake at 400* Speedbake/Convection for 11 minutes per side, turning once and hit it with a few grinds of sea salt once you turn it. Wait around until they are brown, it's worth it.




Polenta (in my mind) is just Italian Grits.

For my Polenta I used 2.5 c organic chicken broth, 1/3 c half and half (I only had vanilla soy milk so I had to use the cow!) and 1 c fine ground cornmeal (it was gifted to me, so I decided to see if it would make good polenta!) - I brought the broth to a simmer, stirred in the polenta and prayed, added the half-n-half, stirred like a fool, s& p (lots of p!) and tasted- BLAHand (bland)
More pepper, more stirring and then I diced up a leftover hunk of mozz (from when I made the eggplant parm!) and THEN I added some butter.

If you want to do this all the same night, I'm willing to bet it's better if you let your polenta get cold in a thin layer- like maybe spread it out on a 11x17 or something... You'll get more 'fry' looking pieces.

Guido ate his with Heinz (gag) - I just had mine plain.




Wait! No I didn't... I also made Hoagies, and topped mine with leftova chimmichurri sauce- so I ended up dragging the fries through that.

Obaby.

So- the Hoagie is a beautiful, fanciful creature that some people call a 'sub'. I am not one of those people. Relax, I only ate 1/2 of it. Yea, it was a biggunn! Peeking out from the roll is yellow Florida tomato (so nice) and some turkey, some pastrami, and my chimmichurri (LOVE IT)
Note: the extra cheddar balanced on the rim at 10:45 is for my dogs. It's a good way to get them off my back when I'm tryin to eat while watching t.v.

Hoagie = Good roll, cold cuts, s&p, oil & vinegar, produce of your liking, cheese, banana peppers & love. I like a tiny schmear of mayo & spicy brown on the roll. I do not believe in excessive lettuce, it just falls out and makes crazy stains on your shirt, shoes, tie, whatever...