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In response to your question about how/when to serve the various possibilities, we generally serve fried mush with breakfast as an alternative to toast, and scrapple can either be breakfast or supper, depending on our preference at the time. Polenta is, as noted, usually a supper-time alternative to pasta.
Another of our favorites that MRBookworm forgot to mention is cheese-grits casserole. The recipe calls for using grits, but it could be made with cornmeal without problem. Cornmeal is more finely ground than grits (also grits is made from hominy, which is corn that has been boiled with quicklime, while cornmeal is made from just dried corn), so the texture would be a little different, but the concept is the same.
Cheese grit casserole
1 c. grits
4 c. water
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 c. grated cheese
2 Tbs. butter
Bring water to a boil, add salt, stir in grits, cook until it looks like the La Brea tarpits, turn off the heat and let it cool 10-15 minutes. While it’s cooling a bit, preheat the oven on to 350. Pour grits into a greased oven-proof casserole dish, stir in butter, eggs and cheese. Bake about 40 minutes.
Makes an excellent side dish for supper; can also chill it in a loaf pan, slice/dredge in flour and fry as an accompaniment to breakfast.
For additional variety, add any of the following before baking:
Stir in a cup of peeled deveined shrimp
Stir in chopped green onions
Saute up a handful of crimini mushrooms and stir those in
Mix together, bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer until very thick (think LaBrea tar pits)
1 lb hamburger
1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes in sauce ( or regular diced tomato plus 2 tbs tomato paste)
1 cup diced onions
2 tbs chili powder
1 cup grated cheese
Brown hamburger. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add tomatoes, and chili powder and cook until somewhat thickened (20 minute)
Grease pie pan. Pour in half of the cooked cornmeal and spread evenly. Pour in hamburger/tomato sauce
Stir 1/2 cup of cheese into remaining cornmeal. pour over burger and spread evenly. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top and bake in 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until cheese is browned.
... serve fried mush with breakfast as an alternative to toast, and scrapple can either be breakfast or supper, depending on our preference at the time. Polenta is, as noted, usually a supper-time alternative to pasta.
Thank you for further info... this is a new way to think about cornmeal for me, so I appreciate the patience with questions & love getting your info.
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Another of our favorites that MRBookworm forgot to mention is cheese-grits casserole. The recipe calls for using grits, but it could be made with cornmeal without problem.
I love that the whole family is assisting with my question! I'm waiting for BabyBookWorm to reply... her favorite? Candy floss polenta with chocolate chips.
Cheers for your recipe. I think I'm going to try it as a breakfast cereal first... then venture onto dinner recipes. We were both under the weather this weekend, so didn't eat anything but homemade chicken soup, heated in the microwave... a big no-no for me... never use that evil devil appliance. I'm convinced it will make my teeth & hair fall out if I don't dive into the closet whilst it's chuffing out it's radioactive madness.
Mix together, bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer until very thick (think LaBrea tar pits)
1 lb hamburger
1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes in sauce ( or regular diced tomato plus 2 tbs tomato paste)
1 cup diced onions
2 tbs chili powder
1 cup grated cheese
Brown hamburger. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add tomatoes, and chili powder and cook until somewhat thickened (20 minute)
Grease pie pan. Pour in half of the cooked cornmeal and spread evenly. Pour in hamburger/tomato sauce
Stir 1/2 cup of cheese into remaining cornmeal. pour over burger and spread evenly. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top and bake in 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until cheese is browned.
Cheers for your recipe. I'm going to rename it BookWorm Family La Brea Tamale Pudding. This one sounds very interesting & I will surely give it a try. Think I'll bake it in a cast iron pan to add some crunch to the crust. I like the double crust idea. Very inventive. I'll post back...
On another note, someone asked for my Sicilian sauce recipe, which I'll be glad to post. Give me a few days to get over my cold & type it out. After all these years of cooking, I no longer measure anything... I just seem to know how much of an ingredient is needed, meaning, I have to figure out reasonable measurements, then convert from metric to US imperial. No worries, I can manage... just not with a head cold.
I'm waiting for BabyBookWorm to reply... her favorite? Candy floss polenta with chocolate chips.
<grin> Well, considering that the "baby" of the family is 27 years old and quite a fine chef in his own right, you just may hear from him! He is indeed quite fond of chocolate chips, though I doubt that he'd include them in a polenta dish. But he certainly could surprise me; he is quite creative and innovative in his cooking.
Glad you're enjoying the contributions in any case, and hope you feel better from that cold in a hurry!
<grin> Well, considering that the "baby" of the family is 27 years old and quite a fine chef in his own right, you just may hear from him! He is indeed quite fond of chocolate chips, though I doubt that he'd include them in a polenta dish. But he certainly could surprise me; he is quite creative and innovative in his cooking.
My mum is 80 & both sisters in their 40s... all have such a sweet tooth, I believe they'd eat veggies if they were sprinkled with coconut, candied fruits or chocolate in any form.
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Glad you're enjoying the contributions in any case, and hope you feel better from that cold in a hurry!
Thank you for your good wishes. Lately, the BF & I have been dragging about with our head colds or allergies or whatever we've got like 2 old men waiting for a bus in 100-degree heat. Except those chums might be a bit more spritely...
Okay... for the first time this morning, I tried hot breakfast cereal polenta. It cooks amazingly fast (2-min max), faster than oatmeal & mixes up so well with no lumps & minimal stirring/work that it's a joy to cook. I mixed 1/2C cornmeal (mine is organic, finely ground white) with 1C water & a pinch of sea salt.
When done, I ever-so-lightly sprinkled a bit of sugar on top. It wasn't something enough (couldn't put my finger on it, just didn't care for the slight sugary taste), so I put a bit of honey on top & didn't like that flavor at all. I tried to save it by pouring a bit of Lactaid into it (allergic to dairy here) & liked it even less... but it was such a small amount & nicely filling that I ate it nonetheless. So, I'll skip the maple syrup suggestion above... sweet polenta just isn't for me.
Now, I didn't dislike the subtle corn flavor (I know the above description sounds like I'm panning it, but I'm not), just don't like it sweetened. I thought about it all morning & think I'd like it cooked that way, but with a good bit of melted salted butter on top. It just doesn't taste like a cereal to me so for breakfast, I need it to taste more like a quick-cook, soft corn muffin. I'll try that another morning in a day or so.
Then, my next adventure will be to cook it, chill overnight & serve with tomato sauce as was already recommended above. In fact, I was thinking it might be interesting to let it harden/cool a bit then roll into small balls (with a pinched middle for the sauce to collect) before chilling. Maybe fold some basil into the polenta first.
It's interesting to work with, I just need to find which spices/flavors I'd prefer with it. Due to the dairy intollerance I can't add cheese although that sounds great, so I'll have to improvise a bit. The tamale double crust pie will be down the road... love Mexican flavored food.
I'd agree with you in not particularly liking a sweet version of polenta (not wild about sweet cornbread either, for that matter), but you can add all sorts of things while it's cooking to create a different assortment of flavors. Adding a pat of butter is an excellent choice; I'd probably pepper it heavily, too. To really spice things up, you could add cumin, garlic and chili powder to give it a Mexican flavor, garlic, basil and oregano to make it more Italian-style, or even go Asian if you wanted a real cross-cultural mix.
Too bad about the cheese; my sis has the same problem, and she really misses being able to use cheese in her cooking. Are you able to tolerate any cheese (a bit of grated Asiago, for example, along with a Lactaid pill), or is it all off the list? Asiago is a strong enough cheese that a very little bit adds a lot of flavor and relatively little lactose to a dish.
Thanks for the report in any case - it's interesting to see how you're approaching this!
I'd agree with you in not particularly liking a sweet version of polenta (not wild about sweet cornbread either, for that matter), but you can add all sorts of things while it's cooking to create a different assortment of flavors. Adding a pat of butter is an excellent choice; I'd probably pepper it heavily, too. To really spice things up, you could add cumin, garlic and chili powder to give it a Mexican flavor, garlic, basil and oregano to make it more Italian-style, or even go Asian if you wanted a real cross-cultural mix.
Perfect timing... just made some quick polenta with butter/sea salt/cracked pepper & it was great! Good call on heavily seasoning it with pepper... the butter & salt was nice but it was missing something & I didn't think of pepper, so cheers for that. Unfortunately for 1C cooked polenta, I needed 2 pats of butter, so I'll have to find a seasoning alternative... don't want to be known as the rolly polly polenta purveyor. Do they make a non-fat, no-carb, no-calorie butter which tastes like Irish ale?
In fact, whilst I was eating this, for a moment I thought I'd made mashed potatoes I was enjoying it so much. So, I can see how this would be nice with breakfast eggs & turkey bacon/sausage. As an alternative, I'll mix up a batch today & cool it overnight like others have suggested to saute, maybe with a bit of onion, with breakfast.
I think the IT seasonings with tomato sauce might be very good, as well. I'm looking forward to trying new recipes.
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Too bad about the cheese; my sis has the same problem, and she really misses being able to use cheese in her cooking. Are you able to tolerate any cheese (a bit of grated Asiago, for example, along with a Lactaid pill), or is it all off the list? Asiago is a strong enough cheese that a very little bit adds a lot of flavor and relatively little lactose to a dish.
Oh, I wish Lactaid worked for me, but it doesn't... not even 2 pills. I'll chance dairy once in a blue moon (a 4" thick grilled cheese sandwich with 4 cheeses... if I'm gonna rash, it might as well be well worth it!), or sometimes I just flat out forget... but, I believe that's why Revlon created foundation. I really miss fruit yogurt the most. Greek yogurt is brilliant... so smooth like ice cream... another thing I must avoid. Geesh...
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Thanks for the report in any case - it's interesting to see how you're approaching this!
Thanks for your help. The largest hurdle was trying to figure out what polenta was to begin with... prior to this post, I thought cornmeal was used for cornbread or muffins only.
The largest hurdle was trying to figure out what polenta was to begin with... prior to this post, I thought cornmeal was used for cornbread or muffins only.
Hi all - I live in the South, and can't find "polenta mix" locally. But we have many kinds of cornmeal. What is the best kind of cornmeal to make polenta? White, yellow, fine-ground, medium, coarse? Does it matter if it is stone-ground?
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More fun with Cornmeal
I think I'm going to try it as a breakfast cereal first... then venture onto dinner recipes. We were both under the weather this weekend, so didn't eat anything but homemade chicken soup, heated in the microwave... a big no-no for me... never use that evil devil appliance. I'm convinced it will make my teeth & hair fall out if I don't dive into the closet whilst it's chuffing out it's radioactive madness. 
I'll chance dairy once in a blue moon (a 4" thick grilled cheese sandwich with 4 cheeses... if I'm gonna rash, it might as well be well worth it!), or sometimes I just flat out forget... but, I believe that's why Revlon created foundation. I really miss fruit yogurt the most. Greek yogurt is brilliant... so smooth like ice cream... another thing I must avoid. Geesh... 
