Polenta - a recipe for a classic dish and original versions with additives. Corn polenta with cheese and tomatoes - a step-by-step recipe with a photo of how to cook polenta with tomato jam at home

National italian dish- corn polenta! Very tasty and satisfying - with cheese, raisins, vegetables.

Polenta, a dish made from crushed corn kernels, first appeared in Italy in the 16th century. After this golden cereal was brought from America to Europe by Columbus. Initially, this dish was cooked only by the poor. However, over time, it became widespread and won the love of Italian gourmets, turning from ordinary peasant food into gourmet dish. Polenta is a versatile food. The thing is that the Italians use it not only as a side dish for meat and fish dishes, but also as a dessert, snack and even instead of bread. It all depends on the recipe. And there are an incredible number of them. You can cook polenta soft and sweet, you can harden it and serve it cut into pieces. In addition, it can be supplemented with vegetables, cheese, mushrooms, meat or seafood and get a completely independent and very hearty meal. For children, it is best to offer polenta with sweet fruits. In general, any gourmet will find a recipe to your taste. If you master classic recipe cooking polenta, then all the other variations of it will not seem difficult for you.

  • 1 cup polenta (very fine) corn grits).
  • 3 glasses of water.
  • Salt to taste.
  • Butter.

To prepare this dish, very small corn grits are used - almost flour. It's called "polenta". And to be more precise, it’s not even cereal, but coarse corn flour. By the way, the taste of the dish depends very much on its quality. You can never make real polenta from cheap low-grade flour - smooth and velvety, with a delicate, creamy taste. But that's not all. Before making cornmeal polenta, you will need to find a deep copper pot or a thick-walled pot. In the old days, every Italian family had a special cauldron for this purpose, which hung over the hearth and a long wooden spoon to it. It was in it that Italian housewives cooked their a traditional dish. But, given that it is rather problematic to get such a boiler in our time, you can also use an ordinary Teflon heat-resistant saucepan. So, you will need to measure exactly 3 cups of water. That is, the ratio of water to cereal should be exactly 3 to 1. No more, no less. When the water boils, salt it to taste, reduce the heat to a minimum so that the water barely gurgles and pour the flour in a very thin stream, stirring constantly.

Now be patient, because in the next 30-40 minutes your task will be to continuously stir the corn porridge. Patiently, carefully and not in a hurry. When the porridge begins to slightly lag behind the walls of the pan, and this will happen no earlier than in half an hour, the fire can be turned off.

Spoon the finished porridge onto a shallow baking sheet or into another suitable container about a centimeter thick.

Smooth it out with a spoon. Lay the parchment on top and again gently smooth the whole mass with your hands. Let it cool down for about half an hour. Then remove the parchment.

Cut the frozen mass into pieces. You can also squeeze circles with a glass - as you like.

Heat a frying pan with butter and fry the polenta pieces in it.

Transfer them to a plate and sprinkle with pepper if desired. You can eat both cold and hot.

Recipe 2: Corn Polenta (Step by Step)

Polenta, in fact, corn porridge with various additives, is a dish Italian cuisine. Variations on the polenta theme exist in different parts of Italy. Since the taste of corn grits is rather neutral, and the color is not very expressive, in order to make an appetizing polenta, something spicy and bright is added to corn porridge, such as spicy and Bell pepper different color, garlic, various herbs.

  • water - 800 ml
  • corn grits - 150 g
  • soft cheese - 100 g
  • hard parmesan cheese - 30 g
  • hot chili pepper - 1 pc.
  • garlic - 2 cloves
  • olive oil- 2 tbsp. l.

Prepare all the ingredients for the polenta. Mince the garlic. The garlic cloves should be approximately 2mm on a side. Finely chop the pepper (1 or ½) into 5mm squares. If you are not a fan of spicy food, first remove the seeds from the pepper, or you can limit yourself to only half hot pepper. Grate both cheeses (soft and hard) on a fine grater.

Saute garlic and hot peppers in olive oil.

One minute will be enough, the main thing is that the garlic and pepper retain their juiciness, and do not dry out and do not overcook. Strain garlic and pepper through a strainer, drain excess oil.

Boil water (800 ml) in a saucepan, salt it and pour in corn grits (150 g) in a thin stream, stirring constantly. If you pour all the cereal at once, it will instantly brew, and you will get a shapeless piece of porridge instead of polenta. Remember, semolina porridge is cooked according to the same principle. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring the corn grits continuously for five minutes. Its readiness can be defined as follows. If, while stirring, at the bottom of the pan with corn grits there will be a trace of a spoon, which means that the porridge can be removed from the fire.

Add fried peppers with garlic to the finished corn porridge.

Add soft cheese and Parmesan.

Stir.

Form (preferably square) line with baking paper, pour the corn mixture.

Level the surface.

Place the polenta in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool the finished polenta completely, only then cut into sticks 2 cm wide and 6 cm long.

Serve Italian polenta with any sauce. It goes well even with ketchup, and real fire-eaters will like polenta with hot sauce Tabasco.

Recipe 3, simple: cornmeal polenta

  • Finely ground cornmeal - 100 grams
  • Water - 300 grams
  • Salt - 20 grams

The ingredients for polenta are very modest, you can’t even believe that you can cook a gourmet dish from this set.

It is ideal to cook classic polenta in a copper bowl, stirring with a wooden spoon, but copper dishes are rare in our modern apartments, so you can replace it with a pot with thick walls and a bottom or a cauldron. Pour the required amount of water into a thick-walled saucepan, add salt and bring the water to a boil.

Most main secret perfect polenta - correct proportion products, one part flour and three parts water. We introduce flour into boiling water in small parts and mix well with a spoon so that lumps do not form, the porridge should be of a homogeneous consistency.

With constant stirring, we cook porridge from corn for about 50 minutes, this long and laborious process cannot be interrupted, this is how the porridge will turn out to be the right consistency and not burn. As soon as the porridge begins to lag behind the walls and it has a crust, it is ready, proceed to the next stage of cooking.

Line a baking dish with parchment paper.

Put the cooked corn porridge in the form, cool, then put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

After the allotted time, we take out the finished polenta from the refrigerator, remove the parchment paper, put it on a cutting board.

Carefully divide the polenta into portioned pieces according to your taste, cut off the bumps and edges.

Put the sliced ​​​​pieces in a baking dish, pre-grease the bottom of the form with sunflower oil. Put in an oven preheated to 120 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Let the polenta cool down, now our dish is ready, you can put it on serving plates, because in the homeland of polenta they use it even instead of bread, or cook delicious dishes from polenta.

Polenta can be served with vegetables. You can also serve polenta with meat dishes, in Venice it will definitely be served to you with fish dishes.

For breakfast, polenta can be prepared in the form of tartlets with cucumber and boiled egg, you can’t imagine a better breakfast.

Polenta is delicious in combination with any ingredients, it is very versatile, cooled and dried polenta, for example, can be cut into pieces, sprinkled with grated parmesan and baked in the oven. Grilled polenta or sweet polenta is also delicious, it is customary to eat it by dipping it in coffee with milk.

Recipe 4: Italian Polenta

Corn porridge polenta is one of the most ancient and favorite dishes of Italians. In northern Italy, it is customary to cook it with the addition of leftovers. different types cheese, as well as with various meat fillings.

From our step-by-step recipe with photos, you will learn how to cook polenta at home from cornmeal. This porridge also turns out well from cereals, but flour polenta is more tender. The resulting dish is very difficult to compare with ordinary porridge. The cheese in its composition gives the Italian polenta a unique taste that cannot be forgotten.

Our photo recipe will help you easily prepare corn polenta to please your loved ones with an old Italian dish.

  • cornmeal - 380 gr
  • water - 1 l
  • milk - 250 ml
  • butter - 160 gr
  • hard cheese— 250 gr
  • garlic - 1 clove
  • white bread - 1 slice
  • sage - 4 leaves
  • thyme - 1 sprig
  • edible salt - to taste

We prepare water: mix it with milk and bring to a boil, salt and throw bread.

Slowly and carefully fold in the cornmeal. Reduce heat and cook for 10-15 minutes. The main thing is not to forget constantly, stir so that lumps do not form.

Now let's get to the cheeses: they need to be grated or crumbled ( it depends on the type of cheeses you choose for the dish).

After the polenta has boiled, add the cheeses to it, stirring constantly until they are completely dissolved.

We heat the pan, melt the butter in it, add the garlic, which must be crushed well beforehand, and sage leaves.

After a few minutes, take out the garlic and sage, and pour the resulting mixture into porridge. Mix well, decorate with a sprig of thyme - and old-fashioned corn polenta Italian recipe ready. It can be used as an independent dish with some kind of sauce or as a side dish for meat.

Recipe 5: Polenta Porridge with Bell Peppers

Polenta - the National dish Italians, an analogue of hominy in Moldovan cuisine.

  • Vegetable oil
  • Flour 2 tbsp
  • Butter 30 g.
  • Onion 100 g
  • Salt 0.5 tsp
  • Herbs 0.5 tsp
  • Tomatoes 100 g
  • Water 700 ml.
  • Sour cream 2 tbsp
  • Bulgarian pepper 100 g.
  • Corn grits 250 g

To prepare polenta, you will need finely ground corn grits or flour, salt and aromatic herbs (they are not required, you can add at your discretion), onion, vegetable oil, Wheat flour, butter, tomatoes, sweet peppers and sour cream.

Mix the cereal with dried herbs. If you don't want to use them, you can skip this step.

Bring the water to a boil. Pour cereal into it. You need to pour in a thin stream, constantly stirring the water. Throwing out all the cereal at once is wrong. She will fall into clumps. They can be broken, but for this you have to stir the porridge intensively. It’s easier to pour the cereal in portions.

Soon the porridge will begin to thicken. At this stage, add salt, butter to it and mix.

Continue cooking until the porridge thickens. Stir occasionally to evenly distribute heat and liquid. If the porridge has thickened, but the grains are still not soft enough, add a little water and continue cooking. The finished polenta should be so thick that a spoon stuck in it does not fall off.

Grease a deep plate or other suitable dish with vegetable oil. Put polenta in it. Smooth out the surface soaked in cold water spoon. Leave the porridge to cool for 1-2 hours. During this time, the polenta will become dense and suitable for cutting.

Turn the chilled polenta over and place on a wooden board. When cooling, the porridge will decrease slightly in volume and it will be easy to get it. Cut the polenta with strong string or a wet knife. Do not use a regular knife. Boiled corn will stick to it, and you will only spoil even beautiful pieces. Do not cut hot polenta. It will fall apart into separate pieces.

Bread the polenta slices in flour and place in a pan with hot vegetable oil. You don't need a lot of flour. It is enough that it covers the pieces with a thin layer on both sides. Fry 2-3 minutes on each side, until browned. Do not turn the pieces until a golden crust appears at the bottom. It not only improves taste and appearance dishes, but also makes the pieces stronger, does not allow them to fall apart. In general, polenta is completely ready-to-eat and unroasted. But I decided to cook just such a version of the dish. In Italy, by the way, it is called polenta fritta.

Prepare vegetable sauce for fried polenta. Cut all vegetables into small cubes.

Fry the onion with sweet pepper in vegetable oil until softened. Add tomatoes to them and fry until they soften too.

Add sour cream, salt, pepper and simmer for another 5 minutes under the lid. Drizzle this sauce over polenta when serving. If you want, you can grind the sauce in a blender and then bring it to a boil, then it will have a more uniform structure. Let the hot polenta with sauce rest in a bowl for a few minutes before serving, so that the porridge is well saturated with the aroma of the sauce.

Recipe 6: Polenta with Cheese (Step by Step Photos)

Polenta is a corn flour dish that can be served as a side dish. By adding cheese to polenta, you will get an independent dish and surprise all your loved ones with a new dish.

  • Milk - 250 ml
  • Corn flour - 70 g
  • Butter - 25 g
  • Cheese or cheese - 200 g
  • Salt - to taste
  • Ground black pepper - to taste
  • Fresh parsley - 2 g

How to cook polenta with cheese: Pour milk into a double-bottomed saucepan or cauldron and put on fire.

After boiling, add butter and, if desired, salt.

Dry the corn flour in the oven and sift (it is best to take finely ground flour). Whisking constantly, gradually add the cornmeal (the quality of your polenta depends on the quality of the flour). Thoroughly mix the porridge for 5 minutes over low heat.

Add another 40-50 g of milk and stir for another 4 minutes.

The polenta should be thick.

After the porridge has become a homogeneous consistency, put it in a mold or glass, previously greased with butter. It is good to tamp the porridge with a spoon, after wetting it with water.

Place the polenta in the refrigerator for 20-25 minutes until completely cool.

After getting out of the form.

Cut the polenta with a slightly damp knife.

Put on a plate, sprinkle with black pepper and chopped herbs.

Put sheep cheese or cheese on top and put the polenta with cheese in the oven (temperature - 180 degrees) for 7-10 minutes.

Cheese polenta is ready!

Recipe 7, step by step: polenta with mushrooms

An Italian dish called polenta is becoming more and more popular in our area. Along with pasta and pizza, it is prepared at Italian-style parties and served in themed restaurants. Making polenta at home is very easy if you know how to cook… semolina. Yes, yes, it is this dish that most of all resembles an Italian delicacy in terms of consistency and method of preparation. Well, adding greens and mushrooms to it, you get an excellent holiday dish, which may well become the "star" of the entire table.

  • Polenta - 250 g
  • Champignons - 300 g
  • Onion - 1 pc.
  • Hard cheese - 200 g
  • Green garlic - 3-5 stalks
  • Parsnip leaves - half a bunch
  • Salt - to taste
  • Vegetable oil for frying

The technology for preparing this dish is designed in such a way that you first need to make a mushroom "additive", and after it - the polenta itself. So we clean the onion, cut it into half rings, rings or cubes (this is whoever loves it). We spread it on a frying pan heated and covered with vegetable oil, fry on all sides.

While the onions are fried, quickly clean the mushrooms, cut them into smaller pieces and put them in the pan. Please note that the fire must be rather big: otherwise, the mushrooms will immediately release water and begin to “cook”. Salt mushrooms with onions, stir them from time to time.

Now let's cook polenta! To begin with, a small educational program: corn grits are often called polenta and it is recommended to cook it for 30-40 minutes. This is wrong: in fact, polenta is a very fine cornmeal that cooks almost instantly. Well, the classic corn porridge (mamaliga) from the corresponding cereals really should be cooked longer. In order to cook polenta, put a pot of water on the fire (there should be 3 times more water than polenta). If the water is already boiling, slowly pour the polenta into it, stirring all the time. At the same time, we make the fire very small. Then everything is the same as in the preparation of semolina porridge: constantly stir the porridge and make sure that there are no lumps. Don't forget to add some salt. After 3-5 minutes, polenta is ready.

Cut green garlic. Instead, you can add green onions to the polenta.

Now you need to prepare the cheese - grate it on a fine grater.

We process the baking dish with vegetable oil and put the polenta into it.

Lay a layer of mushrooms and onions on top of the polenta.

Well, the final layer is cheese. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and put our mold in it. Keep it there for up to 10 minutes, until the cheese is completely melted.

Polenta with mushrooms and herbs is ready! This porridge tastes like dumplings. Nevertheless, the dish is considered very noble and claims to be the gourmet's favorite delicacy.

Try to cook polenta with mushrooms - and see for yourself the excellent taste of this dish!

Recipe 8: Polenta with Tomatoes and Meat

a traditional set of products for Italian cuisine - fresh vegetables and meat, and instead of bread it is proposed to cook polenta. Polenta is a cool porridge made from finely ground corn grits, which completely replaces bread and can be served with any dish - fried fish, chicken, meat, stewed vegetables. Polenta is baked and fried in oil, boiled in milk or water, vegetable broth, make it dense, almost like bread or more tender, resembling thick porridge. In any form and in any combination, polenta is very tasty and healthy, and even if you get carried away and allow yourself a large portion of polenta, there will be no harm to the figure.

An appetizer of polenta with tomatoes and meat can be served in portions, making turrets, or on a plate, supplemented with meat, vegetables and soft cheese.

  • finely ground corn grits - 1 cup;
  • water - 1 glass;
  • milk - 2 cups;
  • lean meat (veal, beef, pork) - 300 gr;
  • lard with layers of meat - 200 gr;
  • salt - to taste;
  • mozzarella or any soft cheese - 150 gr;
  • fresh tomatoes (large) - 4-5 pcs;
  • any fresh herbs- for submission.

Cut the fat into small cubes or sticks. We make the cuts not large, but not very small, taking into account the fact that the fat will need to be melted to cracklings.

We cut the meat a little larger than the fat. It is advisable to slightly freeze the meat for polenta from corn grits and then cut into neat cubes with sides of 2-2.5 cm.

We measure the right amount of finely ground corn grits. In appearance, it differs markedly from cornmeal, the structure of the cereal is heterogeneous, the grains are clearly visible.

Heat a dry frying pan well. Throw in the pieces of fat. We melt the fat, make cracklings, but do not fry them much. With a slotted spoon, we select the cracklings, while the pan with fat is set aside.

We cook polenta. Pour milk into boiling water (you need to cook polenta in a cauldron).

Heat up and bring the milk and water almost to a boil. Salt to taste.

Pour in 2-3 tbsp. spoons of rendered fat. Fat is needed so that the polenta with tomatoes and meat turns out to be tastier and more tender in taste.

Let the milk boil. Pour all the grits in a slide until you stir.

The milk continues to boil quietly, the cereal gradually swells. When the milk rises and almost covers the cereal, we take a pusher and begin to mix the cereal with milk, as if kneading it.

Gradually, the cereal will absorb milk, the mass will become viscous and lumpy. It is necessary to knead the cereal well so that there are no dry areas left.

Cover the casserole with polenta. We make a small fire, steam the grits for 20-25 minutes. It should become soft and tender, absorb all the liquid. Near the walls, the cereal will be baked, slightly fried. We turn the cauldron with ready-made polenta onto a plate so that the polenta is on the plate in a slide. Cover it with a towel and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.

We put a frying pan with rendered fat on a strong fire. Fry the meat quickly until golden brown. Salt the meat to taste. Mix the fried meat with cracklings and warm everything up.

We transfer the polenta to a cutting board and knead with a layer of 3 cm. Cut out circles with a glass. Cut the tomatoes into thick slices. Put a circle of tomato on a circle of polenta.

Put crumbled mozzarella or any soft cheese, fried meat with cracklings on top of the tomato. Decorate with herbs and serve a snack to the table. Enjoy your meal!

Recipe 9: Sweet Polenta with Raisins and Dried Apricots

  • 1.5 st. water (or milk)
  • 150 g corn grits
  • 2 tbsp Sahara
  • a pinch of salt
  • a handful of raisins
  • a handful of dried apricots
  • butter (or vegetable) oil for greasing the mold
  • maple syrup or honey for serving

Bring milk to a boil, add cereals, sugar, salt, cook over low heat under the lid for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.


While the porridge is being cooked, rinse the raisins with hot water, pour the dried apricots with boiling water for 10 minutes, then cut into pieces equal in size to the raisins.


Grease a rectangular shape with butter.

When the porridge is ready, add raisins and dried apricots to it, mix, put in a mold, level with a spatula.


Allow the polenta to cool, then cut into slices and drizzle with maple syrup or honey when serving. Polenta can be stored in the refrigerator for several days.

Recipe 10: Polenta Casserole with Vegetables

I suggest you cook a puff casserole of polenta with vegetables. This lean vegan dish is very easy to prepare. Vegetables can be taken according to the season and to your taste. I really like polenta with vegetables, see the classic recipe with photos step by step below.

  • 1 cup corn flour
  • about 2 liters of water
  • 1 carrot
  • half onion,
  • half sweet pepper
  • a few cauliflower florets
  • 2 zucchini
  • piece of eggplant
  • 4 tbsp tomatoes in juice or diluted tomato paste,
  • 1 tbsp olive oil,
  • salt and pepper to taste,
  • 1 tsp paprika.

There are two types of cornmeal for polenta: classic and fast food. Boil the polenta until tender, as directed on the package. The flour is poured into boiling salted water and boiled, stirring, until thickened.

While the polenta is cooking, let's start with the vegetables. Cut the onion and carrot into small cubes.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onions and carrots in it.

When the onion becomes translucent, add finely chopped cauliflower and bell peppers, diced. Cover the vegetables with a lid.

At this stage, add tomatoes in juice or vegetables to vegetables. tomato paste so that the vegetables are stewed in it and do not burn. Simmer vegetables for five minutes.

For now, cut the zucchini and eggplant into small cubes.

After five minutes, put the zucchini and eggplant in the pan, season the vegetables with salt, pepper and sweet paprika. Stir, simmer the vegetables under the lid for another 5 minutes, that is, until half cooked.

Pour the finished polenta (half) into a rectangular mold lined with baking paper. The polenta should be hot, fresh off the fire. So it is still liquid and it is convenient to work with it.

Quickly spread the vegetable filling on the polenta and smooth with a spoon.

Pour the other half of the hot polenta over the vegetables, completely covering the filling. Level the surface if necessary. You can drizzle a puff pastry of vegetables with olive oil.

We send the polenta to the oven to bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees. During this time, the vegetables will become soft and the polenta more dense. The surface of the casserole will brown slightly. You will definitely like this polenta with vegetables, the classic recipe with a step-by-step photo is very simple, so everyone can cook this delicious casserole.

Let the polenta cool slightly before cutting it into portions. Serve warm.

Polenta with cheese - a recipe for those who love polenta both as a side dish and as an independent dish. A big plus of this dish is that polenta does not matter what cheese or cheeses you use!!! Well, that is, it doesn't matter at all! Suitable for absolutely anyone! I usually throw leftovers there - all sorts of remnants, bits and half-eaten packages, not yet spoiled, but already looking like it’s somehow inconvenient to put them on the table. Dried yesterday's cutting can also be attached to polenta. What you see in my photo is the remains of mozzarella, prepared for pizza, but not used; and the remains of a generally strange cheese: combinations of gorgonzola with ricotta. But you can take at least Poshekhonsky! As a result, polenta will turn out either with a flavor of Gorgonzola, or with a flavor of Poshekhonsky. Cheeses like mozzarella and ricotta, i.e. neutral in taste, almost do not give changes in the taste of polenta, but they change the consistency - it turns out to be more tender, softer and lush. And all cheeses contain a decent amount of fat. Accordingly, polenta with cheese is not seasoned with oil at the last stage.

Bring a little more water to a boil than the instructions on your polenta flour package require. She is very, very different. Under mine, you need 4 volumes of water for 1 volume of flour (flour and water for polenta are always measured in cups). I will not bore you with mathematics, it turns out that for 150 g of cornmeal - 900 ml of water. Under the cheese you need liquidish polenta.

If you have hard cheese, and it is not cut, then cut it into small cubes or rub it on a coarse grater until the water boils there.

We slightly add salt to the boiled water, pour polenta into it in a thin stream with constant stirring (you need to stir so that there are no lumps left). While the polenta is strongly spitting boiling liquid, it is better to cover it with a lid. As soon as it stops splashing, we open it and begin to stir. Mix the polenta well.

When the polenta reaches approximately the same consistency as in this photo (it is no longer liquid and is somewhat similar to swollen gelatin, look at the marks on the walls and the texture of the crumbs on the shoulder blade), you can throw in the cheese.

Very carefully mix the cheese into the polenta and continue to cook it over high heat, stirring all the time from the edges to the center. The polenta should not burn. At least in non-stick cookware. See how the footprints on the walls have changed from the previous frame? This is how cheese changed polenta. The polenta is salted after the introduction of the cheese.

When the polenta starts behaving like well-blended yeast dough(it is easy to separate from the walls and form in a lump) - the polenta with cheese is ready. The cauldron is removed from the stove, the surface of the polenta is leveled and left to cool until it forms into a cake that can be easily dropped out of the pan. This is checked by separating the edges of the polenta from the walls of the boiler. It usually takes about 10 minutes to cool down. In general, flour for polenta is very different. Therefore, when preparing this dish, it is impossible to name the exact time of a particular operation.

While the polenta is cooling, you can grate some cheese to send the polenta. Although this is not required.

When the polenta has formed into a stable cake, a plate or a round board is placed on it ...

And they just flip the pot.

Well, and all this beauty can be sprinkled with cheese on top, if you want.

Polenta with cheese is eaten warm. Maybe, of course, she is also nothing cold, but in our family she has never lived to see that before ...


Step 1: prepare the corn grits.

First of all, put a deep non-stick pan with a thick bottom on medium heat, or rather a cauldron with the right amount of water, let it gradually heat up, but do not boil! In the meantime, we send corn grits to a deep plate and sort it out, removing rubbish of any kind. Even in such a small yellowish miracle, not very pleasant villi, as well as pebbles, can come across, so we look carefully!

Step 2: cook corn porridge.


When the water begins to gurgle, add salt to taste to it and begin to pour the corn grits in a thin stream, while shaking the liquid with the dry ingredient with a whisk or a wooden kitchen spatula so that lumps do not form.

Then we reduce the fire level to a minimum and cook the porridge, stirring almost continuously for 30 minutes, for which it will acquire a thick consistency, begin to separate from the bottom and walls of the dish, and also reach full readiness.

As soon as the porridge is cooked, add about a hundred grams to it. butter, knead everything well and, using a tablespoon, transfer the yellow mass into a small round, square or rectangular non-stick or heat-resistant baking dish, previously greased with a piece of butter. The size of this inventory depends on what thickness and width of polenta you want to cook. If you want to make it thinner, use a large dish, and if thicker, then a small one, mine was 20 by 12 centimeters. We send the formed polenta to a cool place and cool completely for at least 1, and preferably 2-3 hours to become denser.

Step 3: prepare the cheese.


After the right time, we take hard cheese, I have Parmesan, and chop it on a coarse, medium or fine grater. Then turn on the oven to preheat 190–200 degrees Celsius and proceed to the next, almost final step.

Step 4: Cook the polenta with cheese.


Sprinkle the surface of the cooled, compacted corn porridge to taste with dried thyme, ground black pepper and crush with chopped hard cheese so that it lies in a thick layer, at least 5-7 millimeters. We put the polenta on the middle rack of the oven, preheated to the desired temperature, and bake for 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and forms a delicious crispy crust on top.

Then we pull kitchen gloves on our hands and rearrange the form with a fragrant dish on a cutting board, previously placed on the countertop. Let the yummy cool to a warm state, then divide it with a kitchen spatula or a knife into portioned pieces of the desired size, distribute them on plates and invite the family for a tasting!

Step 5: Serve Polenta with Cheese.


Cheese polenta is served hot or warm as a main vegetarian dish or as a side dish for meat, poultry, fish and even game dishes. It is served differently, for example, before putting portions on the table, each is decorated with fresh finely chopped greens, seasoned with sour cream, cream or milk-based sauces, as well as vegetables. Well, as an addition to this culinary masterpiece can be suggested vegetable salads, pickles and marinades. Cook with love and enjoy!
Enjoy your meal!

If lumps form in the polenta during cooking, add a little more broth or water, smash everything with a kitchen spatula, and the glued cereal will disperse;

Parmesan can be replaced with feta cheese, Adyghe or any other hard cheese;

Gathered to cook corn porridge in a saucepan? If yes, then choose dishes with thick walls made of copper or cast iron;

An alternative to ordinary water - vegetable or any meat broth, in this case, the dish will turn out to be more saturated and fragrant. Some housewives add about 200 milliliters of cream to the water, this ingredient gives the polenta a rather delicate creamy flavor;

If desired, after 25 minutes of cooking, you can add half of grated Parmesan or any other hard, as well as soft, grated porridge to the porridge. goat cheese and cook the polenta for the remaining time until fully cooked, as indicated in the recipe.

  • Recipe author:
  • After cooking you will receive: 2 servings
  • Cooking time: 35 minutes

Polenta is an Italian dish made from corn flour, which in most cases resembles porridge or hominy. Polenta is eaten as a side dish or as an independent dish with various additives. Today we are making polenta with cheese. try it tasty dish and surprise all your loved ones. How to prepare and serve polenta. The quality of your polenta depends on the quality of the flour. This dish should be smooth and creamy, as all starch particles are completely dissolved during cooking. With cheap low-grade flour, this effect cannot be achieved; larger particles are not completely dissolved, leaving the eaters with an unpleasant "feeling of sand in the mouth." Recipe Polenta (porridge made from corn grits). Cooking polenta. Polenta with cheese. Cornmeal polenta. Neapolitan polenta. Polenta with cheese recipe. How to cook polenta with cheese (VIDEO). Italian polenta with cheese. Mamaliga with cheese. Mamaliga cooking. How to cook a real hominy with cheese? Hominy with cheese recipe. Step by step video recipe. dietary low calorie recipes. Recipes for diet food for weight loss. Recipes for dietary meals. Diet meals from meat. Lenten Recipes. Recipes meatless dishes. Cooking master class from the chef. Cooking secrets. The best recipes.

Ingredients

  • corn flour: 70 grams
  • Milk: 250 grams
  • Butter: 25 grams
  • Cheese: 200 grams
  • Salt: 2 grams
  • Black pepper: 1 gram
  • Parsley: 2 grams

Instruction

  • Pour milk into a double-bottomed saucepan or cauldron. After boiling, add butter and gradually introduce cornmeal. Thoroughly mix the porridge for 5-10 minutes. After the porridge has become a homogeneous consistency, put it in a mold or glass, previously greased with butter. Place the polenta in the refrigerator for 20-25 minutes until completely cool. After, get out of the mold, cut. Put sheep cheese or cheese on top and start the finished dish in the oven at a temperature of 180 degrees for 7-10 minutes. Bon Appetit everyone!

Description

Polenta with cheese and tomatoes is a traditional Italian dish. The polenta recipe is somewhat similar to the Moldavian hominy, but at the same time, polenta is never prepared in its pure form and is always served with some kind of side dish.

Our step by step recipe cooking this dish with a photo involves diversifying Italian corn porridge with additions in the form tender cheese mozzarella, as well as ripe tomatoes. Making polenta with tomatoes at home is very quick and easy. The main thing is to strictly follow the instructions in the recipe and not overdo it with spices.

To give the rather bland corn polenta a richer and more expressive taste, we will add a pinch of dried basil to the mold before baking. You can add your favorite spices to this dish, however, in this case, the taste of classic polenta will change somewhat. Since we will cook this dish not in a pan, but in the oven, the porridge will fully retain all its beneficial features and quality.

Let's start cooking hearty polenta with cheese for dinner.

Ingredients


  • (250 g)

  • (50-70 g)

  • (50 g)

  • (200 g)

  • (3 pcs.)

  • (1/3 tsp)

  • (taste)

  • (1 l)

Cooking steps

    First of all, let's prepare the corn base. To do this, pour 1 liter of water into a saucepan with a dense bottom, add salt to taste and pour the indicated amount of cornmeal in portions. Constantly stir the contents of the pan with a spoon so that the flour does not take lumps. After the porridge has thickened a little, reduce the heat to a minimum and cook it for 40 minutes, stirring constantly with a spoon or wooden spatula.

    Ready corn porridge looks like it is shown in the photo.

    Grate a piece of parmesan into a deep bowl on the smallest grater.

    Pour all the grated cheese into the cooked corn polenta.

    Thoroughly mix the ingredients until a homogeneous mass and complete dissolution of the cheese.

    Pick a large sheet parchment paper, carefully grease its surface with a piece of butter, spread the corn porridge that has not yet cooled down on the parchment in an even layer no more than 1 centimeter in height.

    We also grease the surface of the porridge with butter.

    We spread another sheet of parchment paper on top of the polenta, lightly pressing it down so that we get an even, smooth area. You can do this with a cutting board or something equally flat and large in area. We are waiting for the complete cooling of the porridge.

    We wash the tomatoes, cut them into not too thin slices.

    Cut the mozzarella into slices with a sharp knife.

    Using a faceted glass or a special shape, we cut out equal neat circles from corn porridge.

    Grease the bottom and sides of the baking dish with plenty of butter.

    We tightly lay on the bottom of the greased form of porridge tenderloin.

    Lay out the top layer as follows: alternate tomato, mozzarella and polenta in each row, lay out the circles at a slight angle. Sprinkle with dried basil.

    We preheat the oven to 200 degrees, send the form with polenta into it and bake the dish until cooked for 15-20 minutes.

    We serve the finished dish and serve it to the table with a side dish of fresh vegetables. Polenta with cheese and tomatoes is ready.

    Enjoy your meal!