Polenta?

[Anonymous]

Every time I am at Trader Joe’s I see this package of polenta – it looks like its rolled up in like a sausage casing tube or something.

Is polenta a pasta? Healthy? Can I somehow work it into DS diet? Any EASY recipes/good ways to serve it?

[Anonymous]

It's essentially grits. Coarse ground corn, cooked up into a pudding, and then set into the sausage form.

You can serve it two ways--pudding style, with more liquid (more like grits, although I find the taste quite different) or my favorite, polenta fries:

preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cut polenta sausage into thick french-fry size chunks.
Place in a single layer on a greased baking tray or cookie sheet.
Brush with oil & sprinkle with salt & pepper

bake 1 hour or until golden brown and slightly crunchy. Turn the strips half way through cooking.

[Anonymous]

It's corn. Very easy to work into a recipe, you can serve it as a side, or add a meat and vegetables to it as an almost risotto dish. I find it is best when well-seasoned, although I try not to use too much salt (and prefer spicy, so I use various chili seasonings.)

It took me a few times to figure out, but I cut it into smaller pieces, use a little milk to think it out, and cook in a calphalon skillet being sure to stir often. Usually use a little butter on the bottom to keep from sticking.

It's not an every day thing, but it's a great change of pace starch.

[Anonymous]

Delicious, but oh, the carbs!

[Anonymous]

Easy to make from scratch, too - buy corn grits or real polenta (polenta is a little more finely ground corn) and slowly simmer it in water - about 4 times as much water as corn. Add salt and butter. Serve as is as a carb side, or you can mold it into the sausage shape, put into muffin tins for cute little cup shapes, etc. You can cut the sausage into discs and fry them in some olive oil and they get crispy and brown on the outside...yum.