Polenta Recipe with Sautéed Mushrooms

1. Make the polenta: To a pot with water/stock add salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Pour polenta flour to the pot, while constantly whisking, until combined and no lumps.
2. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot with a lid and cook for 25-30 minutes, whisking every 5 minutes. Make sure to scrape the sides, bottom, and corners of the pan. Turn the heat off and stir in butter and cheese. Cover and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
3. While the polenta is cooking, make the mushrooms: in a pan over medium heat, melt butter with olive oil. Add sliced onion and sauté for 5 minutes, add sliced mushrooms, season with salt, pepper and thyme. Sauté until the mushrooms are soft and cooked, about 7-8 minutes.
4. Serve: spoon polenta into a serving plate, top with some mushrooms and parmesan shavings.

Notes:

Which cornmeal is the best for polenta?

In the supermarket there are many types of cornmeal. There are white, yellow and even blue cornmeal. There are instant, finely ground, coarsely ground and medium ground. The best cornmeal you can use for polenta is the one that the package labelled as “coarse polenta”.

What is the difference between polenta and cornmeal?

First of all, polenta is not an ingredient - it's a dish. Cornmeal is an ingredient. In a nutshell, polenta is a North Italian dish whereas cornmeal is often an ingredient used in making polenta. Polenta was traditionally made of a wide variety of grains. But today it is commonly made of the medium or coarsely-grounded yellow corn kernels. Cornmeal is made of differently ground corn kernels as well as different corn kernels such as blue, white and commonly yellow. Source: http://www.differencebetween.net/object/comparisons-of-food-items/difference-between-polenta-and-cornmeal/

 How to make the best polenta?

To make the best polenta you need to follow few basic rules:

1. Use 1:4 ratios (1 part polenta, 4 parts liquids). Or a bit more liquids if you prefer a runny consistency.
2. Don’t use instant polenta flour, use the regular polenta cornmeal.
3. Serve polenta while warm.

What kind of mushrooms can we use?

In this recipe I used chestnut/white Button mushrooms, but you really can you almost any kind of mushrooms that you like, such as: Portobello mushrooms, shitake, dried mushrooms, fresh mushrooms, Crimino Mushroom, oyster mushrooms etc.

How to make extract creamy polenta?

For extract creamy polenta, you can grind the cornmeal in a food processor before use. Fine cornmeal makes extract creamy polenta. Another thing you can make, is adding a few tablespoons of heavy cream to the polenta. Add the cream at the final stage, together with the butter and the parmesan and stir. Adding cream will make the polenta richer, smoother and creamier.

What can we serve with polenta?

You can serve polenta with roasted veggies, with gravy, artichokes, sausages, meatballs, shrimp, chicken and more.

Water/vegetable stock/chicken stock/milk/cream?

What is the best way to cook polenta? Basically any liquid can work here. You can use water, stock, milk or cream. The result will depend on the liquid you choose to use. If you choose to use stock, your polenta will be more flavorful, if you choose to use milk or cream your polenta will be richer in flavour. You also can mixture of the liquids. I prefer to use stock and maybe sometimes t add a small amount of milk or cream.

How to store cooked polenta?

Polenta at its best when it's still hot. The leftover polenta can be kept in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, but keep in mind that polenta changes its texture after cooling and become solid and dry. To reheat polenta, heat it gently on the stove, adding a bit of water or milk as needed until it reaches the desired consistency.

You also can cut the polenta into sticks/squres and fry in.

More recipes you may like:

• One Pot Pasta with Tomato Sauce
• Macaroni and Cheese
• Creamy Mushroom Pasta
• Pesto Pasta