I have been fixated on soft polenta, since I celebrated New Year's Eve at Biba and discovered it wasn't on the menu. So, on Sunday I put my stirring arm muscles to the test and made it. I ordered polenta cornmeal from Zingerman's a month ago, impressed by the praise heaped on it in the catalog. It's stone ground and from the Piedmont area of Italy, so I decided to give it a try. Actually, the color and texture of the cornmeal reminded me a great
deal of my Aunt Scotty's favorite stone ground cornmeal, which she uses
to make the world's best cornbread. She insists on using Lamb's, which
is made in Texas. Both have small bits of the germ in the meal and
that makes a huge difference. This polenta was better, creamier, with a deeper corn flavor.
My main goal was the polenta. Normally, I serve chicken or a Bolognese meat sauce with it. But, after reading Marcella Hazan's suggestion that garlic shrimp partnered nicely, I was on my way.
Normally, I cook my polenta in a double boiler, rather than the constant stirring method. But, for some reason, I decided to make it the old fashioned way, stirring constantly as I watched a Cake Challenge on The Food Network. Of course, Colette won, and I think she didn't deserve it.
The shrimp tasted very nice with the polenta, but I prefer something with more sauce. But, the main thing is that I had my polenta. Now I can stop thinking about it--for awhile.
Soft polenta with garlic shrimp (Marcella Hazan)
7 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
1 2/3 cups polenta cornmeal
3/4 pound cleaned shelled shrimp
2- 3 tablespoons olive oil
minced fresh garlic
minced fresh parsley
1. Bring water to boil a heavy pot, add salt.
2. Add the cornmeal to the boiling water in a very thin stream. I do this by letting handfuls run out of my closed fist into the boiling water. Make sure you do this slowly and stir constantly, with the water boiling.
3. Once the cornmeal is all in, stir constantly over medium high heat, for at least 45 minutes. I stirred mine for a little over an hour. Idealy, the cornmeal should start to pull away from the sides of the pot as you stir. If you want, add two tablespoons of butter and some grated Parmesan when it is almost done.
4. When done, serve it immediately, preferably with something that has juices or a sauce. The polenta can be held by setting the pot over hot water until you are ready to serve it--which is what I did while I quickly made the shrimp.
5. Quickly saute the shrimp and garlic in the oil over medium high heat, until the shrimp is just done. Remove from heat and scatter the parsley into the pan, stir briefly, then server over the polenta.
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