It is natural that when we experience uncertainty on the scale we are currently experiencing, we feel threatened and try to hold on tightly to what we have. That can come up as overbuying, hoarding behaviors, and distrusting others. We are trying to practice holding things more loosely and coming together (not literally) in supportive community. This in an opportunity for us to build empathy for those who have been experiencing scarcity and isolation for years and to learn from others instead of reaching for our coping mechanisms of hoarding and insulation.
We’ve been hearing about pasta shortages in grocery stores right now and instead of offering options of stores that might have pasta, we wanted to offer another grain option. Polenta is a great grain dish to serve with meals. It is wonderful with roasted veggies and beans for dinner or fried with an egg on top for breakfast.
This recipe calls for corn meal. There is specific corn meal that is ground quite coarsely for polenta, and purists would say that using finer grain corn meal makes something else, not polenta. We enjoy this dish made with whatever corn meal is available. Sometimes that means finer, sometimes coarser, but no matter where on the spectrum, we love the result.
While we like polenta best when it is made with vegetable stock, in a pinch it can be made with water and bouillon, or even just with water. We use unsalted stock, so if you opt for bouillon that is salted, keep that in mind while you cook the dish.
serves: 4-6
time: 1 hour
Ingredients
1 cup cornmeal
4 cups water, bouillon, or vegetable stock
2 tsp salt (less if your bouillon is salted)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp minced rosemary
Bring 4 cups of liquid to a boil. Pour cornmeal into the boiling liquid slowly and whisk continuously until it comes back up to a boil. Add 2 tsp salt. Turn the heat down to a simmer and whisk every time it gets close to boiling to keep from sticking to bottom of pan. Cook 45 minutes. After 35 minutes add the rosemary. Once you remove it from the heat whisk in nutritional yeast and olive oil.
The polenta will seem quite liquid when it is hot, but will firm up as it chills. If you would like to fry it, we recommend refrigerating in a shallow pan for easy slicing.
This tastes delicious scooped into a bowl with veggies on top or refrigerate to use for frying.