Creamy Polenta - What's the Scoop

I made polenta for tonight's Verandah Gourmet dinner. I've made it before in the instant pot and it turned out well. Tonight, I had to bring a double recipe and I decided to do a little research and get some advice.

There are tons of recipes out there - using tubes of polenta, instant polenta, and coarse-ground cornmeal. There are tons of different procedures and plenty of "no-nos!"

Here is what I gleaned. I made a double recipe using 8+ cups of liquid to 2 cups of cornmeal. I brought the polenta in my Dutch oven while it was just cooked. I covered the pot and traveled with it in my trunk. I left the cover on until the meal was served (pork ossobuco and sauce served over a nice big spoonful). The polenta looked wonderful - I scooped it out leaving the glossy layer on top in the pan.

• Use coarse-ground cornmeal, never fine or medium. Not all polentas are created equal. Polenta should mean coarse-ground. Well, I made the mistake of buying fine cornmeal and decided to go in search of polenta meal. I ended up with Bob's Red Mill Polenta, but I found out later that there is also a Bob's Red Mill Stone-Ground Polenta. I think the one I bought was good. The medium or fine ground create a mushy polenta, apparently. All grocery stores do not always carry the coarse-ground. Read labels carefully.
• Don't use milk to start and actually avoid using stock that causes the polenta to taste less like corn. While I did not use milk, the Gourmet hosts provided me with a recipe using all chicken stock. I used 3 cups chicken stock (not bone broth!) to 5 cups water. In actuality, I added a bit more stock and water as the polenta once it began to thicken. One comment was that the 4/1 ration of fluid to grain is just not enough and I agree. 
• Never start with milk! Always water. I went with the mix - 5 cups water and 4 cups stock.
• Good polenta takes nearly an hour to cook to creamy. Many recipes do not call for that much time. Gerry and decided that we like our polenta, like our pasta, to have a little toothiness.
• Soak your cornmeal in the liquid for a few hours or overnight in the frig. This decreases cooking time so I did do this for a few hours. I then strained out the cornmeal (as much as I could) and boiled the liquid, adding the wet polenta and stirring it constantly until it thickened.
• Add whole milk or cream, butter and parmesan cheese (pecorino is sometimes preferable) towards the end when the polenta is nearly cooked. I grated my own parmesan (huge chunk from Costco) with a fine hand-held grater which is how I prefer my cheeses anyway. It melted in immediately. I used heavy cream just barely a half cup. 
• Polenta should keep its form (not be runny) but should not be too thick to scoop or spoon. 
• Use some salt and coarse-ground pepper to taste. Be careful - I used too much sea salt in my test recipe. If your butter is salted, delete the additional. 
• Don't use too much cream, butter and cheese. One piece of good advice was that good food should be delicious during AND after the meal. Inotherwords, you should not feel yucky after the meal is over!

4 cups water and broth for a total of 4 cups

1cup coarse-ground cornmeal

1/2 tsp. salt and some pepper

Good butter - 2 T

Cream - 1/2 cup

Finely grated parmesan cheese - 1/2 cup

Use any good recipe and follow it to find how much cooking time you like.

Samin Nosrat's Buttermilk-Marinated Roast Chicken

If you haven't watched Netflix's SaltFatAcidHeat yet, you really must. The book is also a must, and this way of cooking whole chicken will change your chicken forever.

Chef and food writer Samin Nosrat is so much fun to watch. Who knew salt was so good for you? And that you should be adding acid (lemon or lime juice or vinegar) to practically everything you cook?

This chicken is so juicy - and you can use it for so many things if you just cook up a couple once a week.

3½- to 4-pound (about 1.5 kilograms) chicken

Salt

2 cups (475 ml) buttermilk

or cook two at once.

The day before you want to cook the chicken, remove the wingtips by cutting
through the first wing joint with poultry shears or a sharp knife. Reserve for stock. Season the chicken generously with salt and let it sit for 30 minutes.

Stir 2 tablespoons of kosher salt or 4 teaspoons fine sea salt into the buttermilk to dissolve. Place the chicken in a gallon-size resealable plastic bag and pour in the buttermilk. If the chicken won’t fit in a gallon-size bag, double up two plastic produce bags to prevent leakage and tie the bag with a piece of twine.

Seal it, squish the buttermilk all around the chicken, place on a rimmed plate, and refrigerate. If you’re so inclined, over the next 24 hours you can turn the bag so every part of the chicken gets marinated, but that’s not essential.

Pull the chicken from the fridge an hour before you plan to cook it. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C), with a rack set in the center position.

Remove the chicken from the plastic bag and scrape off as much buttermilk as you can without being obsessive. Tightly tie together the legs of the chicken with a piece of butcher’s twine. Place the chicken in a 10-inch cast iron skillet or shallow roasting pan.

Slide the pan all the way to the back of the oven on the center rack. Rotate the pan so that the legs are pointing toward the rear left corner and the breast is pointing toward the center of the oven (the back corners tend to be the hottest spots in the oven, so this orientation protects the breast from overcooking before the legs are done). Pretty soon you should hear the chicken sizzling.

After about 20 minutes, when the chicken starts to brown, reduce the heat to 400°F and continue roasting for 10 minutes and then move the pan so the legs are facing the back right corner of the oven.

Continue cooking for another 30 minutes or so, until the chicken is brown all over and the juices run clear when you insert a knife down to the bone between the leg and the thigh.

When the chicken’s done, remove it to a platter and let it rest for 10 minutes before carving and serving.

Tarragon Chicken in a Bowl

Yesterday, I searched for a recipe to use with fresh tarragon, potatoes, carrots and chicken thighs. I found this one and tweaked it a bit and made it early in the day. I love the taste of fresh tarragon and chicken and had lots of fresh leaves from my summer planters.

This made a dish that we ate from soup bowls. The chicken was so tender and I had the other vegetables to use up before we take off on summer fall vacations.

I love the meat on chicken thighs and in this case I used bone-in thighs. I always remove the skin and cook it up for the dog who gobbles anything down once there is chicken skin in it.

Brown 4 chicken thighs in a bit of heated olive oil, skin removed, and bone in. I actually sprinkled it with a buttery herb spice I had on the kitchen counter and some fresh pepper. Remove from the skillet once it is browned and place the thighs in a deep oven dish that will fit the chicken and vegetables and sauce.

Deglaze the skillet with about 1/2 - 1 cup of white wine.  Remove to a pitcher or glass measuring cup and put aside. Add some olive oil and 1/2 c. of chopped onion and 2 chopped garlic cloves. When soft, mix in 2 T. Wondra or white flour and cook for a minute.  Salt and pepper, and add the wine back in with 1cup of chicken stock (or water and BetterThanBouillon Roasted Chicken).  Toss in about 2 T. of fresh tarragon leaves. Cook together until it has thickened a bit.

Top the chicken thighs in the baking dish with slices of potatoes and thick sticks of carrots. (Peel if you'd like.) Add chopped chives, parsley and capers if you'd like. 
Pour the sauce over and bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-45 minutes until the potatoes are done. Pour over 1/2 cup of heavy cream and bake 10 more minutes. 

Serve in bowls with crusty bread.

Herb Blends: Potato Salad and Tomato Soup

My potato salad recipe uses a blend of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. During the summer I can cut them all fresh, but during the other months it is nice to have a dried blend. (It works well in egg salad, too.)

I dry and mix my own herbs at the end of the season. I stem all but some of the tender-stemmed thyme leaves. I place them on parchment on cookie sheets in the sun in our breakfast room for a day or two. Then I sprinkle them with coarse-ground sea salt* and place them in an oven that is warmed to 200 degrees AND TURNED OFF. When they are dried after a few hours (do this again if they are too moist), let them cool and dry more in the open. You may need to chop them coarsely and repeat this step. (Chives, especially, take more time.)

Blend the parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme using handfuls - more sage and parsley than thyme and rosemary. You can blend them more fine in a food processor if you'd like. 

*For totally salt-free diets, do not salt.

My tomato soup requires a few more herbs - savory, oregano, dill, marjoram and basil. If your garden is out of some of these, just use them from your spice/herb collection. I always add celery seed to this blend.