Friday, April 23, 2010

Polenta in a crock pot

I may have a minor obsession with recipes.  (This is just a glimpse of the ones I have tried and kept!)

My most recent favorite is (oh so easy) polenta!  :)
Yum!
For David's last birthday, some friends joined us for dinner at Ponti.  We were in great company, sitting outside right on the canal, I had a melt in your mouth apple wood smoked fish dish, and David ordered the lamb.  He still talks about that lamb almost a year later. 
Now I like lamb, their lamb was fantastic, but what I liked even more than the lamb was the polenta under the lamb.  :)

We recently bought a crock pot, and I ran into several recipes which suggested adding polenta into your crock pot while the meat is cooking.  I haven't tried that because I don't really want my polenta to taste like meat, I wanted to duplicate the delicious Ponti experience!  :)

And somehow google always knows exactly what I am looking for.  :)

Polenta in a Crock Pot
Makes 12+ servings

3 cups polenta (I used Red Mill Organic Polenta Corn Grits)
1 tablespoon salt
12 cups water

I have a 3.5 quart crock pot, so I added my water first to see how much would fit (it all fit!), added my polenta, salt, and stirred. 
Heat on high for 1 - 1.5 hours stirring with a whisk every 15 minutes until polenta becomes thick.  (you will know when it is ready, for the first hour the polenta settles back down at the bottom, but after an hour (or so) the polenta will become thick and stay dispersed in the water)
Switch crock pot to low and cook for 4-5 hours.
Keep on warm for up to 10 hours.


I portioned all of my polenta out into 2-3 serving containers and tossed them in the freezer.  When heating up your polenta from the freezer you may need to add a bit more water, and when ready to eat you may want a bit of butter, milk, cheese, salt - whatever you would like (I like mine plain, it is that good!).

Enjoy!

1 comment:

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