Polenta

Oh polenta, I love you. 

I only tried polenta for the first time about a year and half ago in a restaurant and instantly fell in love. I had polenta ‘stacks’ – thick pieces of fried/baked polenta – with roasted vegetables, and this is all I’ve really done with it since (you can make a creamier almost soup like dish too and use it in baking but I haven’t tried that yet). 

My favourite way to make them is in the form of herby ‘chips’. Great when you want something substantial and comforting but can’t quite face potato based chips. Serve with roasted veg, curry, anything really. Or just pig out on a big bowl with some mayo!

Herby Polenta Chips

Serves 2

Ingredients:

100g polenta

400ml veg stock (I use the Marigold Bouillon powder and like to add extra for this so the polenta really takes on the flavour)

Herbs to taste (I use rosemary, sage, black pepper and oregano)

Method:

1. Bring the stock to boil in a pan. When boiling, slowly add the polenta in a steady stream, stirring continuously. Turn down the heat and simmer for a minute or two, making sure you keep stirring. NOTE: It gets pretty...volcanic...at this stage so watch out it doesn’t sputter and burn you! Just turn the heat down and keep stirring.  

2. Take off the heat and spread out on a greased baking tray as if you were making brownies. Sprinkle the herbs on top and gently press in (careful not to burn your fingers!). Leave to cool for about 20 minutes. 

3. When cooled down a bit, cut into thick rectangles. You can either serve them now or fry them up a bit to make them crispy – I would definitely recommend the latter. Just lightly fry them for a bit in olive oil on each side, adding more herbs if you want. Do this until they get to your desired crispyness, then serve!

Note: However much you make, a good rule is to use 4x as much stock as you do polenta i.e. 100g polenta = 400ml stock. 50g is a generous portion size for one person.