Looking for a twist on your side dish for Easter? Look no more!
This light and fluffy polenta is perfect for serving with ribs, chicken, pork, lamb, or veal, and is also great with roasted veggies.
What Is Polenta?
Polenta is a porridge type dish popular in Northern Italy. In the United States, it is usually made with coarsely ground cornmeal. Think of polenta as an Italian version of grits! But made with yellow corn instead of the white corn of grits.
How to Make Polenta
Making creamy polenta is so easy that you’ll wonder why you haven’t made it before.
It all starts with caramelizing up finely minced garlic cloves in a small amount of olive oil in a large saucepan.
Once the garlic is brown in a medium-size pot in olive oil, add in the chicken broth and water, and bring it to a boil.
When the stock is boiling pour in the cornmeal while whisking constantly to ensure there are no clumps in the polenta. Turn the heat down to medium-low. This can take anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes.
Once the creamy polenta is finished it should be smooth with no crunch to it. At this point stir in some whole butter, Parmesan cheese, thyme, onion powder, and salt, and pepper.
I like to serve my polenta as the base of my dish with the meat on top with polenta absorbing the sauce from the main dish.
Ingredients
- Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 3 cups water
- 1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¾ cup Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, plus more for garnish
Instructions
In a large saucepan, sauté the garlic.
Then combine broth and water, onion powder, salt, and pepper; bring to a boil over high heat. Whisking constantly, gradually add cornmeal.
Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer polenta, whisking frequently, until thickened and creamy, 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove from heat. Stir in cheese, butter and thyme and season with salt and pepper.
Garnish with thyme, and serve. If polenta thickens upon standing, stir in a little hot water.
Note: If preparing polenta in advance, cool, cover and refrigerate. Reheat on stovetop or in the microwave (about 5 minutes on high), adding more liquid if necessary. Stir vigorously after reheating to fluff.
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