raved about polenta when the craze for River Café-style food hit the UK. I think I had an unfortunate experience, and my mind was poisoned by a bland batch. I did not touch the stuff for years and ignored all encouragement to try it. I did not discover until much later that good polenta has real character in its flavour. When, only two years ago, I tried it out on the children in an attempt to cook something cheap and different for them, it got the thumbs-up from one child (typical) – but I was smitten.
Traditional polenta takes up to an hour to cook, slowly bubbling like volcanic lava in a pan (see page 109). It is, admittedly, the most delicious, but good-quality instant polenta takes 5–8 minutes to cook and has a firm place in this chapter. After cooking, you can eat the ‘wet’ polenta immediately with Parmesan or sweet cooked tomato (see page 400) or with fresh cheese, meat stews, sausages, grilled fish, stir-fried greens – the list of things that match polenta is infinite. Alternatively, pour the ‘wet’ polenta onto a board and allow it to cool. It will form a firm loaf and can be sliced and grilled. I buy the popular Italian brand Polenta Valsugana from supermarkets.
1.5 litres/2½ pints water
375g/13oz polenta
2 teaspoons salt
To serve: Parmesan, and extra virgin olive oil or melted butter
Bring the water to the boil, then, while stirring with a wooden spoon, slowly add the polenta and salt, pouring into the water in a thin stream. The mixture will immediately begin to thicken to a paste-like consistency. Continue to stir over a medium heat for 5–8 minutes or until the polenta begins to come away from the side of the pan. Serve immediately, with Parmesan and extra virgin olive oil or melted butter.
GRILLED POLENTA
As soon as the wet polenta is cooked and coming away from the side of the pan, pour it onto a clean (preferably wooden) board, large enough to accommodate the amount. Leave to cool. It will set firm when cold. Cut it into slices and grill on both sides in an oiled grill pan. Cooked polenta will keep for up to 4 days, wrapped in greaseproof paper in the fridge. It tends to sweat a little water in storage, so pat it dry before grilling to prevent hot spitting fat.
GOOD TO EAT WITH POLENTA
With wet polenta – braised meat, sausages, grilled kidneys or pork liver, grilled fish, sautéed spring greens with sausage, finished with a little wine (see page 172), mushrooms cooked with red wine and butter, sweet cooked tomato (page 400). Put a little fresh grated Parmesan on the table, too. Add fresh parsley if you are not using Parmesan.
With grilled polenta – sweet cooked tomato (page 400), sautéed chicory with garlic, parsley and grated cheese, sautéed mushrooms, grilled courgettes and aubergines, sautéed tomatoes with garlic, butter and basil, crisp bacon or pancetta and Parmesan, rocket and Parmesan salad, fresh tomato salad (page 146), chickpeas and rocket (page 149).
THINGS THAT PLEASE CHILDREN
Seven plates of sweet cooked tomato
Braised chicken rice, steamed with allspice
Pork shoulder chops with apple sauce
Clay-pot rice with rice crackling
Buttered sweetcorn and grilled polenta
Beefsteak burgers and all the trimmings
Rich pancakes, stacked with a pear and fudge sauce
Buttermilk ‘snow’ with caramelised apples
Simmered apples, baked in rice pudding
Plain, soggy chocolate brownies
Unpredictable, fussy, unceasingly critical – if you ran a restaurant, at least you could throw customers like these out. But when they are in your home, needing nourishment until adulthood, you can feel like the head chef who got the rubbish job: unpaid double shifts with no staff, no union and often no gratitude. Amid all this, somehow you have to command some respect. Rescue comes with just a few good recipes, the good advice of real mothers, tearing a few pages out of the rule book and having a little sympathy.
Until I had children, I had one formula in my head with regard to feeding others: that good raw materials combined with good cooking equalled empty plates. But six-month-old baby on knee, I found those first few, soft rubber spoons of baby rice and apple purée were not exactly welcome. Put it this way, no one had ever spat something back in my face before.
Feeding children