Soft Polenta

Traditionally, we made polenta with coarse-grain cornmeal and cooked it for 40 minutes or even longer. Today, there is instant polenta, which cooks up nicely in about 15 minutes from start to end. I’m introducing you to polenta by cooking instant polenta; once you master the instant, you can move on to the traditional coarse polenta and you’ll notice the difference in texture. Polenta is unbelievably versatile. I could give you a thousand ways to enjoy it, because that’s how many ways we ate it while we were growing up. It is delicious poured into a bowl and served as is, or allowed to chill and sliced, at which point you can grill or fry it for the next day’s meal. You can even make a “mosaic” by folding diced cooked vegetables into the soft polenta, packing it into a loaf pan while it is still warm, then allowing it to chill. When you cut the chilled loaf into slices, the vegetables will form a mosaic and make an even prettier presentation when cooked.