Perfect Soft Polenta

Ingredients

1 cup (160 g) stone-ground cornmeal

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 quart (1 liter) water

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

About ½ cup (60 g) grated

Parmigiano-Reggiano or pecorino cheese, or other cheese of your choice, or more to taste (optional)

Directions

Put the cornmeal and salt in a large heavy-bottomed pot and slowly whisk in the water. Bring the mixture to a boil and then adjust the heat so the polenta just barely simmers when covered. Be careful, because the polenta will spit like lava, and it's just about as hot!

Cook over gentle heat, stirring often with a long spoon or stiff silicone spatula, and making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot and into the corners, until the cornmeal has fully expanded and doesn't feel at all crunchy when you take a bite and the polenta pulls away from the sides of the pan, anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours, depending on your polenta. I like to cook mine for a long time, as I think it just gets creamier and creamier.

Stir in the butter and cheese (if using), taste, and adjust with more salt if you like. For runny polenta, serve right away. For toppings, see Variations (below). For polenta that you'll cut and fry (see Fried Polenta Sticks, page 105), pour into an oiled shallow baking dish or sheet pan and let set at room temperature. Pick a pan size that will give you polenta about ½ inch (1.25 cm) thick.

Notes

→ Make an easy dinner with a bowl of soft polenta topped with wilted Swiss chard, kale, steamed broccoli, or other cooked greens and finished with a grating of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

→ Top each serving with a poached egg, a knob of salted butter, and some crispy fried bacon bits.

→ Top with sautéed mushrooms— including some wild ones, if possible. You can follow

the directions for sautéing mushrooms on page 48.

→ Fold in some kimchi or sauerkraut for a crunchy, tangy contrast.

→ On the sweeter side, float some heavy cream or milk on top of an individual bowl, drizzle with molasses, and sprinkle with cinnamon and a handful of raisins. Don't worry that there's cheese in the polenta; the flavors

will all meld just fine. (Though if you're making the polenta expressly for dessert, skip the cheese.)

→ Top with Honey Butter with Bee Pollen (page 307) or Maple Butter (page 307) and a handful of fresh blueberries or raspberries.

→ Top with Beef and Pork Ragù (page 320) and a shower of grated cheese.

My heart belongs to the Italian kitchen, so what can I say about polenta other than that it is a necessity of life. I'm lucky enough to get stone-ground cornmeal from an amazing Oregon farm, Ayers Creek, that grows a couple of old varieties of corn, including Amish butter corn and Roy's Calais flint corn. Look for a cornmeal made from corn grown in your region, or try a more widely distributed but high-quality brand of polenta such as Golden Pheasant. A bowl of creamy polenta flavored with salt, butter, and Parmigiano-Reggiano is all a human soul requires, but you can use creamy polenta as a base for so many other delicacies- see the end of the recipe for some ideas for variations. —Serves 4