Posts tagged polenta
I heard it’s from Nice – Polenta and shrimp soup
Dec 14th
On dit que ca vient de Nice – Soupe de crevettes et polenta
I wish I could take the credit for this amazing soup, but unfortunately I cannot. I did change proportions of some ingredients but that’s the extent of my contribution to the recipe. One day going through my thick Mediterranean cookbook, my attention got caught by this interesting and colorful soup. The creator being Daniel Ettlinger, a famous French chef, originally from Alsace (as his name sounds very Alsatian), but settled down in Nice most probably for its smoother climate. He also worked in Milan so, Italy has contributed to his culinary influences. Winters are rough in Alsace-Lorraine and most people are attracted to move to the Southern part of France just to enjoy the Mediterranean climate.
Of course, polenta is definitely an Italian ingredient, most regions of Northern Italy consume it on a regular basis, but many dishes from Nice do use it too. Nice being not too far from the Italian border, many similarities are found in the local cuisines of the towns close to the border.
I never really used polenta in a soup, and I was a little curious about the texture of the soup. I thought the polenta would absorb the liquid and turn it into a thick texture. It did, but you just have to add broth or water, and adjust the consistency.
I loved this soup and will make it again. In the original recipe, Daniel Ettlinger added fried onion rings. He cut onions very thinly, toss them in flour and deep fried them, they were added at the end on top of the soup, but I decided to leave them out.
You can use paprika, piment d’espelette or hot chili. Since I just ran out of piment d’espelette, I used paprika. Paprika is definitely an essential ingredient and should not be left out.
Ingredients for 4
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped roughly
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 1/4 cup (or 50 g) medium grind polenta
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 20 shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 1 pinch paprika
- piment d’espelette
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Heat olive oil in a pot, add onion and saute until golden brown. Add polenta and stir for about 5 minutes until the polenta has browned. Add vegetable stock and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. If by the end of cooking time, the soup gets too thick, add more broth.
Heat the remaining olive oil in a skillt, and saute shrimps until cooked on both sides. Add garlic and scallions. Add paprika and/or piment d’espelette.
Arrange shrimps in a bowl, and pour polenta-broth mixture on top. Add a drop of olive oil.
A thief in the kitchen – Mini vanilla polenta cake with rum roasted peach
Sep 3rd
Un voleur dans la cuisine – Mini gâteaux de polenta à la vanille et pêches rôties au rhum
Who said that polenta only needs to be eaten in savory dishes? I was so excited about this dessert, that I have been thinking about it for days. Let’s also enjoy the peaches while they last, soon they’ll no longer be available. I cannot believe it’s already September.
In France, we have some semolina based desserts like this one (gâteau à la semoule) that the kids usually love (well adults too). So I somehow decided to play with polenta. You need a medium to fine grind. I don’t like to use the coarse kind that much. This polenta has such a fragrant vanilla and milky flavor, I could not stop eating it from the pot. The peach is roasted in honey and rum, which makes every bits a real delight. If you combine on your spoon some polenta cake, peach, mascarpone and run sauce, you might end up being addicted to it.
The peaches need to be ripe but still firm so they don’t overcook quickly while in the oven.
While I was playing with my dessert, I got caught on the phone for a short time, I did not realized that someone was stealing my crumbs. My dog Enzo is as obsessed with food as I am. Of course, a dog being a dog, his obsessions limit themselves too eating food rather than preparing it. I think if I were a dog, I would be just like him. While distracted on the phone, I did not see Enzo, open the kitchen cabinet, and steel the breadcrumbs jar. He opened the lid, left the lid laying on the kitchen floor, took the bread crumbs jar in “his room”, spreading the crumbs on the rug before eating them, and of destroying the jar in pieces. Then after his fight with the crumbs, he hid underneath the bed to hide, knowing he was in trouble.
When I saw his moustache I could not stop laughing, schnauzers have funky moustaches that get easily dirty.
Ingredients for 4
For the polenta cakes
- 200 ml milk
- 30 g heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean cut lengthwise and beans scraped
- 50 g sugar
- 65 g polenta
- 2 tbs golden raisins
- 8 dried apricots, unsweetened and cut in small pieces
- 3 tbs rum
For the roasted peaches
- 2 large yellow peaches, peeled and cut in half and seed removed
- 1 tbs honey
- 2 tbs brown sugar
- 1 tbs sliced almonds, toasted
- 4 tbs mascarpone
Preparation
For the polenta cakes
In a pot, combine milk and cream, sugar and vanilla bean. Bring to a boil. Add polenta gradually while stirring. Keep stirring for about 20 minutes (you can also use express polenta). Add extra milk if the polenta gets too thick. Add raisins and apricots pieces. Mix well. Spread in a flat surface keeping the thickness to about 2 cm. Let it cool. Using cookie cutters, or rinds, cut 4 circles.
For the roasted peaches
Grease a baking dish with butter. Place peaches halves (flat part down). sprinkle with sugar and honey and cook in a pre-heated oven at 400F for about 15 minutes, then turn the peaches on the other side. Let them cook for another 10 minutes, then deglaze with rum (the soaking rum). Put peaches back in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven let them cool a little.
Place one polenta cake in a plate. Add half peach on top. Add mascarpone on the side and sprinkle with rum sauce.
Piperade revisited – Pipérade with polenta crostino and quail egg
Aug 1st
Pipérade revisitée – Pipérade avec crostino de Polenta et oeuf de caille
This “Pipérade Revisited” is a colorful dish, simply because it really represents what Citron et Vanille is all about…French, Italian, Mediterranean cuisine with a contemporary twist, using local ingredients.
Pipérade is a traditional Basque recipe (piper meaning pepper in Occitan language) made with Basque peppers, Piment d’Espelette, onions and tomatoes. I twisted it a little to adapt the whole dish with local ingredients and make it a little less traditional with the quail egg. I also used poblano peppers that are a great alternative to Basque peppers and widely available in California.
Usually the egg is added at the end of the cooking process inside the pipérade, I added mine on top of the polenta crostino. The Jambon de Bayonne (a basque cured ham) is also traditionally cooked and added inside the pipérade. I used Serrano ham, but prosciutto di parma works perfectly fine too. In this version, I grilled the ham and added on the side.
For the crostino, polenta has been cooked in a broth infused with thyme and finished with Basque sheep cheese such as Etorki, but Petit Basque can be a fair alternative if you cannot find Etorki. I topped it all with the cutest of all the eggs, quail egg. I love to substitute quail eggs to regular eggs, they do add an elegant finish to a small bite. This is a very versatile dish, you can serve it as a canape, an appetizer, then you need about 2 per person or make bigger crostoni and serve it as a main course. On fait comme on veut! we do as we please! Now knowing how much I adore making small bites, that’s how I serve mine.
For the polenta, you can use the express polenta, or the regular one which takes over one hour to prepare. It’s up to you, if you have time or not. The express polenta is an alternative when the focus of a dish is not on polenta like this one, and is an add-on.
Ingredients for 4
For the pipérade
- 1 large onion, minced
- 3 poblano peppers, sliced thin lengthwise
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced thin lengthwise
- 4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeds removed
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbs fresh thyme, chopped
- Piment d’Espelette
- 4 slices cured ham such as Jambon de Bayonne, Serrano ham or Prosciutto di Parma
- 4 quail eggs
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the polenta crostino
- 7 oz (or 200 g) polenta
- 3 cups (or 700 ml) vegetable broth
- 1 tbs thyme, chopped finely
- 2 tbs Etorki, grated + some for the shavings
- salt and pepper
- one pinch of sugar
Preparation
For the Pipérade
Heat olive oil in a pan and add onions. When onions are soft and golden brown, add peppers. Cook for out 10 minutes, then add tomates, garlic and herbs, salt and pepper. Adjust with sugar since the tomatoes tend to add a little acidity. Cover and cook slowly for about 30-45 minutes until the pipérade has reached a thick consistency and all the water has evaporated.
For the polenta crostino
Bring broth to a boil, add thyme. Let it boil for a few minutes, then add polenta. Keep stirring until the polenta has absorbed the broth (depending on which type polenta you used). When the polenta is cooked, adjust with salt and add cheese, stir until the cheese has melted and is well incorporated into the polenta.
Pour polenta in a flat tray, the polenta needs to be 1.5 cm thick. Let it cool. When cooled cut with cookie ring of about 6 cm diameter. Grill polenta in a grill pan. Grill each ham slice.
Heat olive oil in a pan, and cook quail eggs, sunny side up. Add salt and pepper.
Using a Ring, form a small tower with tapenade, top it with polenta crostino, add a quail egg, shave some cheese on top, and serve it with a slice of cured ham.
A cure for migraine – Creamy herb polenta with sauté wild mushrooms and hot tomato coulis
Jun 22nd
Per curare l’emicrania – Polenta con parmigiano e rosmarino – funghi selvatici e passata piccante di pomodoro
After a gloomy weekend with a terrible migraine, that immobilized me for few days in bed, I decided that I wanted to start the week as best as I could, and of course, when you cannot eat for a few days, the day you are back on your feet, you are starving. The great thing is that my fridge was filled with lots of various ingredients, so I had everything to make this delightful and vegetarian dish…without going to the store.
Polenta is quite a popular meal in Northern Italy, and they consume it as the French eat baguette. They grow lots of corn and they eat what they grow…so polenta is often on the table, and I have seen mainly the white kind, it’s thick, sliced like bread, and eaten as accompaniment to many cold cuts and radicchio (that’s the way I have eaten it at our friend’s place in Friuli). In Lombardia region (Milan), they eat it boiled with milk and at my parents, it’s prepared with a tomato and rabbit sauce, so to each region its own. No matter how you prepare it, polenta is always a delicious and nutritious meal to enjoy.
For this dish, you need as many different kinds of wild mushrooms as you can…I used morels, chanterelles, king oyster, beech mushrooms and shiitake, they bring a wonderful woodsy and nutty aroma to the fragrant polenta infused in rosemary broth. The polenta remains creamy and soft especially if you add mascarpone, and blends perfectly well with the crunchy texture of the mushrooms and smooth tomato coulis. The whole dish is a harmonious balance of sensations.
For the polenta, I used the fine grind, the coarse grind remains too grainy and is less delicate at the bite. Also, there are two kinds of polenta, the express one and the regular one. I always keep both in my pantry and depending on the time I have, I use either one. Polenta express cooks in 10 minutes whereas the regular one takes over one hour. Usually to make polenta crostini I use the express one, but for polenta-based dishes like this one, I use regular polenta.
Ingredients for 2-3
For the polenta
- 1/2 lb (or 200-250 g) fine polenta
- 1 tbs rosemary, chopped
- 2 tbs fresh parmigiano reggiano, grated
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tbs mascarpone (optional)
For the sauté mushrooms
- 1/2 lb mixed wild mushrooms such as morels, king oyster, beech, chanterelles, shiitake, etc… mushrooms, washed and roughly cut
- 1 shallot, diced
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 3 tbs dry white wine
- 2 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the tomato coulis
- 3 large ripe tomatoes, seedless and peeled
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp oregano, chopped
- cayenne pepper
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
For the polenta
Bring broth to a boil, add rosemary, then add polenta gradually, stir and keep stirring until the polenta is cooked and has reached a semi-thick texture. Cooking time depends on which type of polenta you use. When the polenta is cooked, add parmesan and stir well. Add mascarpone at this time of process if you decide you want to add it.
For the mushrooms
Wash mushrooms. Pat them dry to remove excess water, and cut oyster king and morels (if too big) into about one inch pieces. Heat olive oil in a pan, then add shallots. Brown shallots and add mushrooms. Saute mushrooms and cook until the water is half evaporated then add wine salt and pepper. Stir well, let the wine reduce then add garlic. Cook for a few minutes, then remove from heat and keep warm.
For the tomato coulis
Heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic and stir to get the flavor out. Add oregano, tomatoes, cayenne, salt and pepper. Stir well and cook until the tomatoes have reduced. Mix the tomatoes using an immersion blender, then pass it through a sieve to obtain a smooth coulis.
Serve soft polenta in the center of the plate, place mushrooms around it, and end with tomato coulis.
A less famous polenta – Sweet polenta cake with strawberry-rhubarb compote
Apr 19th
Una polenta sconosciuta – Polenta dolce con salsa alle fragole e rabarbaro
Sometimes I like to feature recipes that did not travel too far, like this one. I went for dinner at a Basque restaurant in San Francisco a few nights ago and one of the dessert item was “gâteau de maïs à la compote de fraises“, cornmeal cake with strawberry compote. Then I realized that there is an Northern Italian cake that sounds just like this one, but I decided to skip dessert since I had a filling appetizer and entrée. I will have to go back and check out the Basque version now!
Everyone knows savory polenta, but there is another sweet version that a few people know, la polenta dolce. Well, if polenta dolce (sweet polenta) is a less famous way of preparing polenta, it is certainly not less delicious. In Lombardia (Milan, Brescia and Monza are the biggest cities) dessert based polenta are not that rare, and this recipe is a typical Lombard dessert and a good member of gastronomia Lombarda. It makes sense, since those regions produce a lot of polenta, when you drive through this area, you see so many corn fields, it’s so obvious that the production and consumption of polenta is high in these areas.
I made a few changes to the proportions but the ingredients are what they’re supposed to be. A good friend of mine from Milan used to eat soft polenta cooked in milk with raisins and sugar and my mom would look at this with a suspicious eye, thinking those people from the North eat funny things. Many Northern regions such as Friuli, Venezia, Piemonte do have their own versions of Polenta dolce and some other polenta-based desserts, but I somehow like this version with almond powder (or flour) and marsala, but if you like cherries, you can also use maraschino which is a Venetian liquor made with cherries (and also available in the US).
You can serve it with any accompaniment you like, I love strawerries and rhubarb compote so much that I can eat it with anything, yogurt, ice cream, cakes, etc…and with this polenta cake it works perfectly. These polenta cakes are delicious, and can be eaten for breakfast as well, they’re not very sweet nor greasy and very hearty.
Ingredients for 6 individual cakes
- 2.11 oz (or 60 g) butter
- 3 eggs
- 2.46 oz (or 70 g) sugar
- 2. 46 oz (or 70 g) white flour
- 3.14 oz (or 90 g) yellow polenta
- 1.76 oz (or 50 g) almond flour (or almond meal)
- 3 tbs marsala or maraschino
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
Strawberry-rhubarb compote – see recipe here
Preparation
Melt butter and in a mixing container combine with sugar. Mix well with an egg beater. Add eggs and mix well for about 10 minutes. Add the rest of the flours carefully, and vanilla, marsala (or maraschino) and baking soda.
Divide in 6 individual molds or a large one. Cook for about 30 minutes in a 370F pre-heated oven.
Let it cool and serve with a berry or fruit compote.
Can I have some polenta please? – Rosemary and parmesan polenta crostoni with spicy wild mushrooms and pancetta ragù
Aug 4th
Mi dai un pò di polenta per favore? – Crostoni di polenta al rosmarino e parmigiano con ragu piccante di funghi e pancetta – cavolo in padella
I have been wanting to make polenta for months now, I had this bag of polenta in my pantry, but did not have the other ingredients I needed to make what I had in mind, so I kept waiting.
Polenta has been a big part of my life, my mom used to make a huge quantity of polenta, spread it on a large wooden surface and served it with a rabbit and tomato sauce. Everyone would take a spoon and eat it from the wooden board.
Polenta prepared in Northern Italy like Lombardia or Friuli is white, it’s served sliced with prosciutto and radicchio. Basically, it replaces the bread in some households. Actually, In Milano, they cook it with milk, and top it with a mushroom sauce, more like a gravy. That is the way I ate it at my childhood friend whose parents were from Milano. I was used to the yellow polenta served with a mushroom, or rabbit tomato sauce. Two different way to prepare it.
Anyway, I found the most interesting mushrooms at the Berkeley Bowl yesterday, and I was so curious about those tiny but still chunky-legged mushrooms, that I just had to buy them. Trying new ingredients gives me some adrenaline rush, and for the particular purpose, that store is perfect.
To be really honest, I am unable to tell you the exact name of those mushrooms, the hand-written sign was unreadable, and I did some research on the web to try to find out their names and I am uncertain of what they’re called. I believe they’re shimeji. Some kind of Japanese mushroom, that has the shape of porcini mushroom but a smaller size. A Heavy stem and a small cap. It has a great flavor and I really liked the mixed flavors of those three different mushrooms.
Going back to polenta, you can buy the pre-cooked or the regular polenta that needs to cook slowly for an hour on medium or even slow heat, so if your wrist is not trained, since you have to stir for the entire hour, you will get a sore wrist and arm. If you are new to polenta and don’t have too much time for preparation and cooking, the pre-cooked kind would work fine. Unfortunately, I only had the regular one, so I had no choice than go the traditional way.
Big polenta eaters like in Friuli, have a special pot with a mechanical arm that stirs the polenta, so you just have to sit and wait.
You might not see it on the picture, but those crostoni have been carved in the middle so you can stuff them with the mushroom sauce.
Ingredients for 4
For the polenta
- about 4 oz. pre cooked or regular polenta
- 1 tbs rosemary, chopped
- 1 tbs parmigiano reggiano, grated
- 3 cups broth
- salt
For the mushroom sauce
- 4 slices pancetta, chopped + 4 slices whole (for decoration)
- 5 well riped tomatoes, chopped seedless
- 1 cup small shitakee, some sliced, some whole
- 1 cup oyster mushrooms, sliced
- 1 cup shimeji mushrooms
- 1 shallot
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tbs parsley
- chili flakes to your taste
- 2 tbs olive oil
For the cabbage
- 1/2 cabbage, shredded
- 1/4 yellow onion chopped
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
First start preparing the polenta. Bring broth to a boil, add salt. Add rosemary, then pour polenta. Stir non stop and cook at very low heat, add water if necessary. If using regular polenta, it needs to cook for at least 40 minutes, always stirring. If using pre-cooked polenta, cook for about 7-10 minutes, and keep stirring. Add Parmesan.
When the polenta is cooked pour in a small deep dish so that the polenta has a thickness of about 1.5 inch. Let it cool. When cooled, with cut circles of about 2.5 inches in diameter. With a teaspoon, remove some of the center of each polenta circle. Drizzle with some olive oil, and brown under broiler for about 5 minutes or until the top of the polenta is golden brown. This broiling part needs to be done at the end, when the tomato sauce and cabbage are almost cooked, or the polenta will get cold.
For the mushroom sauce
Heat olive oil in a pan, add mushrooms. Cook at medium heat, until the water has evaporated, add salt and pepper. Remove from pan and set aside.
In the same pan, add olive oil, add shallot, let it brown. Add chopped pancetta, and brown the mixture. Add garlic and parsley, stir well to get the flavors out, add tomatoes and chili flakes. Cook until the sauce has reduced but do not reduce too much, there needs to be some tomato juice left. Add mushrooms and adjust with salt and pepper.
For the cabbage
Heat olive oil in a deep pot, add onion, and brown it, add cabbage, stir and add wine, salt and pepper. Cover and cook at medium heat until the cabbage is cooked.
Grill whole pancetta slices in a non stick pan.
Serve in a plate with 2 tbs of cabbage on bottom, add polenta crostoni on top. Fill the center of polenta with mushroom sauce. Add 1 grilled pancetta slice on top. Decorate with whole shitakee around the plate.
