Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Rosemary Polenta

Gluten-free…. Where are you?

Has anyone else noticed that I have fallen off the gluten-free wagon? Any of you four readers out there? Me too! Especially my head which has been pounding, and my energy levels which have been zapped to zero! I apparently was correct in thinking I had a gluten intolerance, I am however grateful not to have Celiac’s Disease because it is REALLY difficult, and expensive to get started on a gluten free diet (although if you need to see the right for the link to Gluten-free girl… she’s amazing).

Cardboard waffles, and $6 loafs of bread are not my idea of a good time. I like full flavor and if it doesn’t taste good, I don’t want it at all, like with diet drinks. I also have a sweetner sensitivity, I can’t handle the stuff I end up in bed sick to my stomach with a killer migraine that can last for days! Not to mention it tastes terrible. It’s nothing but chemicals, why put that stuff in your body? Nature did not design us to digest that stuff and it causes cancer in lab rats. Just bad, so what do I drink when on a diet. Ready for it? Water, brewed tea, and coffee. All zero calories on their own, all natural, and gasp…. good for your body!

Where was I? Oh yes… gluten… sorry. Anyway… my thought on fake sugars carries over to my gluten-free stuff. Since I can technically eat gluten, I’m super careful about things being pure, if you are gluten-free please take precautions to use guaranteed gluten-free products, I just watch my intake and try to only eat it one meal a day. I don’t have to spend extra or make special bread or pasta, and I don’t end up sick and tired. For the other meals I just avoid it completely. Hence the birth of this recipe. Inspired but probably nothing like Penny Cluse’s (in Burlington, Vermont) Polenta and Black beans with Ranchero Sauce. A full meal, easily made vegetarian (lacto-ovum vegetarian that is) by switching out chicken stock for vegetable stock, but filling and tasty enough you won’t miss the gluten because it was never suppose to be there to begin with. Enjoy.

Rosemary Polenta

Ingredients

4 tablespoons, unsalted butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 cups half-and-half
1 cups milk
2 cups cornmeal
1/2 cup good grated Parmesan

Method

Heat the butter and olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, rosemary, salt, and pepper and saute for 1 minute. Add the chicken stock, half-and-half, and milk and bring to a boil. It will look like this when you first add all the ingredients.
















Remove from the heat and slowly sprinkle the cornmeal into the hot milk while stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for a few minutes, until thickened and bubbly. Like so.
















Off the heat, stir in the Parmesan. Pour into a 9 by 13 by 2-inch pan, smooth the top, and refrigerate until firm and cold. (I did overnight)
















Cut the chilled polenta into 12 squares as you would with brownies. Lift each on out with a spatula and cut diagonally into triangles. Dust each triangle lightly in flour (use rice flour for gluten-free). Heat 1 teaspoon of olive and 1 teaspoons of butter in a saute pan and cook the triangles in batches over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, turning once, unti browned on the outside and heated on the inside.
Add more butter and oil, as needed. Serve immediately.

3 comments:

  1. So would this be a side dish or main meal? It sounds really yummy! I might have to try this!

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  2. Looks great and it tasted wonderful. How long does it chill in the fridge for?

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  3. You can have this as a side or as a meal. Here we used it as the main part of the meal, like you would with a pasta or something like that. It chills in the fridge overnight, but I suppose a few hours until it is firm enough to be lifted and fried would work just as well. :)

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