Freshly milled polenta sardaHome >> Recipes
Text-only version printed fromhttp://FXcuisine.com/default.asp?Display=89 In less than 5 minutes I transformed dry corn kernels into the most amazing fresh polenta, which I used to make polenta sarda. Spectacular! You don't need to wear Birkenstock or have a nuclear shelter in your backyard to want to mill your own polenta. Some people do it for self-reliance, others because it's healthy. I do it out of pure gluttony. Polenta is corn kernels ground to a coarse flour. The polenta sold in shops is a vamped-down shadow of the real stuff. Commercial mills have to remove some of the tastiest parts of the grain so the polenta will last more than a few days before turning really rancid. Most will precook and preseason it, so you're left with a sort of stale yellow industrial porridge. A meal fit for a donkey. Mario Battali served me the Kool-Aid on milling your own flour for pasta making. Well, the ladies at the River Café in London convinced me to do the same for polenta. They claim Italians eat polenta only a couple months after the harvest - after that stone ground polenta turns rancid. Stone-ground polenta is not easy to find outside Italy and I like it all year round, so I decided to mill my own. These days home flour mills sell for $200 on Amazon. I have a beautiful beech wood Komo mill from Austria, my pride and joy. See a picture in Italian Buckwheat Noodles. Put in dried corn kernels and turn on the mill. Adjust the fineness and sit back. The mill starts spitting out fresh polenta like a cascade of sparks. 500 gr polenta is milled in 3 minutes flat. This is a close up view, the whole mill is about 35cm/1' high (photo of entire mill).
To show you how real polenta flour is used, I have made Polenta sarda, an extraordinary dish from a traditional Sardinian recipe: Polenta Sarda
Cooking Polenta In a heavy-bottomed saucepan heat the water/milk with 2 teaspoons salt. Add the polenta in a shower and beat well to dissolve any lumps. Don't wait for the water to boil before adding the polenta or when you pour the polenta in your pot will turn into a yellow volcano and spit scorching-hot polenta drops all around your kitchen. Increase heat to high while whisking often to dissolve any lumps. The polenta will initially split into a yellow layer at the bottom, water in the middle and some white bran on top. Just mix regularly and make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom. When it boils, decrease temperature to the lowest flame possible. After 15-30 minutes the polenta will be a nice homogenous mix. Then just leave it for about 3 hours and mix from time to time. Once the polenta reaches this stage it does not require constant mixing unless you have a very hot stove that could burn the bottom. Polenta is cooked when it falls off the pot's sides and is a thick, dense yellow paste. You can then mix in 100gr butter or 150gr finely grated parmesan cheese. These are often omitted but the polenta just tastes a whole lot better with added fat - one of them facts of life. Preparing the ragù Grease a large baking tray with a little butter or oil on a paper towel to prevent any sticking. Pour the hot polenta into the tray. Let it cool down in the fridge for at least one hour. As it cools down the polenta sets. Cut it in 8cm/3'' long rhombuses with a plastic or wooden knife so as not to damage your baking tray. This is a wonderful traditional Sardininan recipe which I found in an italian book with 5000 traditional regional italian recipes. The rich meat sauce and melted cheese combine with the rustic and complex flavor of the freshly milled polenta and fresh basil in a moment of pure delight. Another success in FXcuisine! 119559 views |
9 Comments
- #1
- Comment by FX Hartigan
Oh, this makes me SO hungry! I now have two uses for the grain mill I bought, thanks to this recipe and the one for buckwheat noodles and cabbage, yum.- #2
- Comment by jenny
Is there an alternative to the flour mill (e.g. food processor or blender)? Will the use of a food processor or blender on dry corn simply destroy the items mentioned?- #3
- Answered by fx
Jenny, I have recently been offered cookies with rice flour made by grinding flour in a food processor and they were not overly convincing. Grinding hard corn kernels into a fine, regular powder is a full time job and I don't think anything but a proper mill can do it. They are not expensive though and you can buy them off the web. I hope you'll have a chance to try - good luck and thanks for visiting!- #4
- Comment by sue
Hi FX! Ihave just found your beautiful blog ... via the amateur gourmet and serious eats ... I have only read the polenta sarda so far but it epitomises everything about good food, it's provenance, preparation and life-enhancing enjoyment that my wife and I try to achieve.... I can't wait to read all of it!!Thank you, Sue, England- #5
- Comment by milly
I have never eaten Polenta, but when I discover this web site my mouth is full of water... any way what is the benefits of polenta... is it healthy?- #6
- Comment by Annette
I have an old Magic Mill with grinding stones. I'm wondering what sort of corn you used to grind into your polenta and if it's different from regular popcorn, can you list a resource online? Thanks.- #7
- Answered by fx
Annette, I am not sure whether popcorn corn goes through any processing that would make it less usable for polenta. But you can buy whole corn kernels from any organic store, there must be thousands of them that sell online in the US. Just look for 'organic corn kernels' on Google. Good luck!- #8
- Comment by Linden
I have used freshly ground popcorn to make polenta, I liked the result.