Hard Polenta Cakes

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Polenta is one of those things that seem easy but it can take a few attempts to get it right. I think I may not have been salting enough. This one was right on target! I am going to add a half of a cherry tomato to the top.

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The polenta was fantastic! OK what else is new, is Chef Ann!
You have to be careful with the type of polenta you buy, the cooking time and amount of water can vary from five minutes to 30. Watch out for the salt, the parmesan cheese is salty, the milk and mascarpone cheese are sweet so add your salt in small increments until you get it just right for your taste and remember the parmesan cheese will add a bit more flavor. Don't omit the bay leave and if you want a bit more spice, add your favorite hot sauce.

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I LOVE LOVE LOVE Anne, she is my absolute favorite celebrity chef. This lamb shank recipe is awesome.

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I am a huge fan of Anne and her way of conveying her recipes to the audience on television. That said, the polenta was a mitigated success. The only critique I can make is the instruction to put in as much salt as to bring it to the edge of too much salt. The polenta doesn't need but a pinch of salt. Following her instruction, my polenta was almost inedible (perhaps a good tablespoon of salt. The next time I make it I will add only a pinch of salt. One needs to take into consideration that the parmesan on top of the polenta adds saltiness and in the menu that this was made with on her show (lamb shanks, which were fantastic, the sauce has ample flavor.
Other than that, this is a great recipe, that I will use again as a base for future polenta cakes.

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Wow this was great! First time I made polenta and it turned out fabulous, definitely a keeper. Also a first for one of Anne's recipes. I didn't realize I had purchased Quick Cooking Polenta until I got home, but it worked out fine. Did have to add extra milk and water, and I did taste tests on the salt prior to adding the polenta. I served this with Osso Bucco as it has a great gravy to go over the polenta, and it was wonderful. Thank you Anne!

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I just finished a trial run of these for valentines day and so cut the recipe in 1/4. I also (like another reviewer used Quaker Cornmeal in the tub and it really only took 5 minutes to cook. I used skim milk, cream cheese, and dried sage rather than fresh (hard to find in my grocery stores right now. I did have to add about 1 1/2 the amount called for for BOTH water and milk, and I put in 1/2 tsp salt (again, for 1/4 the recipe. The result was good but very salty (obviously - but I didn't know what "liberal" meant!. Next time, I'll use about half the salt of what I used this time, add pepper, and saute in butter rather than EVOO. I'll also DEFINITELY use mascarpone; the flavor on cream cheese isn't pronounced enough once you saute. Also, make sure you even out the top of the polenta when in the fridge as much as possible - it won't even out on its own.

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We've made a lot of hard polenta over the years with results from just OK to very good. This recipe resulted in what might be the best yet. Really, really good. I suspect it has to do with the chef's advice to season the cooking water LIBERALLY with salt at the outset combined with the addition of mascarpone at the end. As the chef said might be so, we found it needed additional milk and water during the cooking process to get it to the right level of doneness and consistency. This is a keeper and makes a perfect pairing partner with a variety of braised meats and poultry dishes.

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I never had hard polenta before. These were really nice and went well with the lamb shanks.

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I wasn't sure if I'd like these or not... But wow - what a side dish! I used Quaker corn meal. I wasn't sure if it was the same thing as Polenta, but everything I read said it basically was. However - I only had to cook it for approx 5 minutes... not 30. So I would say it's definitely NOT the same. But the final product was still fantastic! I LOVE the crispy outside with the hot, creamy inside of the cake. Wasn't as good left over, as the cakes lost their "crunch", but the flavor was still there.

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I have experimented a new easy way and it paid off! Compared to regular way of browning polenta on a heated pan with oil where it takes about 10 minutes EACH side to brown to crisp the polenta cake (with 2 tsp of oil, I found a much quicker and eaiser way with less oil! I microwaved on high the slices of polenta cakes for 1 minute and flipped over and microwaved for 1 more minute. It cooked polenta and drained excess water from it and opened the pores or polenta. Right after removing it from microwave oven, I patted the slices of polenta dry with a couple of paper towel, then immediately put them on a heated pan with a touch of oil (not even a tsp. Since polenta is still hot with pores open, the hot pan seared the polenta very quickly. I cooked each side for only 1-2 minutes instead of 10 minutes per side. It came out very crisp on the outside yet very tender on the inside! Try it!