Grilled Polenta with Rosemary Butter
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| Bob's Red Mill medium grind organic corn meal http://www.bobsredmill.com garden grown fresh rosemary |
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup medium or coarse yellow corn meal
- 4 tablespoons butter melted
- 1 spring of fresh rosemary
Rosemary butter - Heat butter in small saucepan or microwave. Add 1 tablespoon of finely chopped rosemary to melted butter and let sit to combine flavors
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
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| Pouring corn meal into boiling water |
In medium saucepan boil water. Add polenta from high in a steady stream, whisking to avoid clumps. Bring back to a boil, stirring. Reduce heat and continue stirring with flat wooden spoon. The corn meal will sputter, so be careful not to burn yourself. This may take 15 minutes or more. Polenta is done when it comes away from the sides of the pot.
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| Polenta spread on flat surface to cool before cutting |
Pour polenta onto a clean board, cookie sheet, tray or directly onto the counter. Spread to about 1/4-1/2 inch thickness. Any thinner and it will be difficult to handle from board to grill. Allow to cool Cut into 3" squares. Approx. 12 squares.
Lightly oil grill. Place polenta on grill and brush top with rosemary butter, close lid and cook for 5 minutes, open lid, turn over polenta and repeat with butter on top. Close lid and grill for 5 minutes.
Remove from grill to serving platter and sprinkle with grated cheese, garnish with sprig of rosemary.
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| Grilled Polenta with Rosemary Butter |
For those of you that want to read a bit further about polenta, please do.
My grandmother, Nonni Bianca Apino was born in Torino, Italy. Throughout her life polenta was served as a main meal, sometimes twice a day. Maize, a crop grown in abundance in the north, makes it a staple item in the kitchen cupboard of northern Italian homes. Families own a special copper pot reserved solely for cooking polenta, along with a long wooden stirring stick.
A story that dates back with my relatives, Nonni Pasqualina Biodini Cicogna goes like this: Nonni would spread the polenta on a wooden pastry board, cutting out a hole in the center and then filling the hole with some of the leftover meat tidbits and tomato sauce. This was the set up for a game. The first one to make his way from the outer edges of the polenta to the sauce would get lots of "yea's" and a pat on the back plus the bonus of eating the meat. Making a game of eating polenta was her way of getting 6 children to eat another meal of polenta when variety in food was a luxury they could not afford.
From its humble roots, it's now featured on fine dining menus.
