May 2005 - Polenta Senza Bastone

I started this post two days ago and only got as far as inserting the picture of issue #38. I was at a bit of a loss for words but I think I have them back now, at least for a while.

My first choice for something to make from this issue was Curtis Stone's parmesan-crusted veal escalope and crispy potatoes. It has a nice citrusy sauce with it as well. I have done parmesan-crusted chicken fillets in the past and they have always been very nice. I haven't eaten a lot of veal. I find that it is a slightly bland meat but it is usually nice and tender and I think that is what is required here. In the end I decided to make something else.

I considered making Jill Dupleix's Green Pea & Mint Frittata for a nice lunch but frittatas are very hard to make smaller. I have a few different fry pans, oh and I added a couple of Swiss Diamond pans to my collection recently. However I don't really have one for cooking an individual frittata. I do have one small cast iron one that belonged to my mother and while it is the right diameter it really isn't deep enough. It is the perfect size for making a single fried egg though. I didn't really want to have a bunch of left over frittata so I moved on.

While trying to decided what to have with the meal I was making from the May 2006 issue I decided to see if there were any side dishes in this issue that would work with it. I ultimately decided to go with Nigella's Polenta Senza Bastone. I love polenta both soft and firm polenta. It is a wonderful side dish and I think that I will continue to make it Nigella's way. This involves baking it in the oven rather than standing over and stirring it for ages getting spat at with hot bits of polenta. It was just as good as if I had stood over the stove stirring and went with my meal perfectly.

Polenta Senza Bastone

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

• 1.8L chicken stock
• 350 g polenta
  

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 190C
  
• Grease oven proof dish. (I made half a recipe and used a small lasagne dish)
  
• Bring stock to the boil.
  
• Whisk in polenta and stir continuously when it starts to thicken change to a wooden spoon.
  
• Boil for 5 minutes.
  
• Pour into prepared dish, cover with buttered foil.
  
• Bake for 1 hour.