Good gravy, is this what polenta is supposed to be or what?! I won’t even bore you today with anecdotes or stories of failed polenta, because this polenta is so good, it’s worth just getting right to it. It’s lick-the-pot good, and all the other “so good” things those annoying Yoplait girls mention.
This recipe is from, surprise surprise, The Bon Appetit Fast Fresh Easy Cookbook, but it was originally published in the magazine in 1998. What originally drew me to making this recipe was the sublime photo in the cookbook, so I put it on the menu and picked up Monterey Jack cheese, cilantro, and canned chilies to put it together.
Somehow though, when shopping, I managed to completely ignore the fact that I had cream or half&half on the shopping list. So last night, I go to assemble my polenta, and realize I don’t have the cream. What to do, what to do. Do I send my husband to the store, who would have happily gone, or do I figure a substitution. Plain milk just didn’t seem the answer, and I didn’t want the flavor that using Silk creamer would add. So I stood in front of the fridge, looking for inspiration, and my eyes lit on the carton of plain yogurt. An idea formed, and I then reached, instead, for the tub of sour cream and the carton of milk. The sour cream and milk combined to form their own creamy sauce, and I had my substitute.
The one thing I want to say about the procedure to this recipe is that you really should take the 10 minutes or so it takes to constantly stir the polenta, and constantly stir the polenta. It came out so creamy and wonderful, that I just know the constant stirring really added something.
Secondly, this really came together quickly, despite the constant stirring, and as a fantastic bonus, this can be made up to a day ahead. Let me tell you, this is so company worthy that we’re going to be making this a lot- even for people who have never had polenta, or say they don’t care for polenta, because this is just so gosh golly delicious. If you have the cookbook, or are familiar with the recipe, you will notice that my recipe is slightly different. I changed the chilies from whole to chopped, simply for ease of use, I reduced the overall salt, because I thought I was adding enough cheese to compensate, and then I used the sour cream mixture instead of cream. I have to say, the sour cream flavor came through and really added a great layer of flavor. If you want to see the original recipe though, this link for Polenta with Green Chilies and Cheese will take you straight to Epicurious and the recipe there.
Polenta With Green Chilies And Cheese
2 cups milk1 cup water
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 4-ounce cans chopped green chilies, drained
1 cup drained canned corn, divided
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup milk 1/4 cup sour cream
Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter 8 x 8 x 2-inch glass baking dish.
Mix first 5 ingredients (2 cups milk through salt) in a heavy medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly. Cook until polenta is tender and thickens, stirring often, about 12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in Parmesan.
Pour half of polenta into prepared dish, spread evenly to the edges. sprinkle with one can of the chilies and half of corn. Top that with half of the cilantro followed by 1 cup of Jack cheese.
Combine the 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup of sour cream, whisk together to completely incorporate. Drizzle half of the sour cream mixture over the shredded cheese. Spoon remaining polenta over, again, spreading to the edges evenly. Cover with remaining chilies, corn, cilantro and cheese. Pour the last 1/4 cup sour cream mixture over. (Can be made 1 day ahead to this point. Chill.)
Bake until polenta puffs and cheese begins to brown, about 25 minutes if not chilled or 30 minutes if chilled. Cut into squares and serve.
I love coming here to read all of your recipes. I’d never even heard of polenta before!
Erika- did it really only take 12 minutes for the polenta to become tender? My biggest complaint about polenta is that it never seems to soften up in the amount of time the recipes says it should. This recipe looks AMAZING, and I would love to make it but I am scared of polenta that takes a freaking hour of stirring to cook! Does the oven part continue the cooking enough that the polenta is tender all the way through when done even if it was still a little gritty before going in?
Rina, I’m very new to polenta myself, and have always been afraid of it for some irrational reason. This one was completely eye-opening and so delicious.
Josie, the finished product was incredibly creamy and not gritty in the least. I don’t remember if it was completely tender in the twelve minutes, but it was uber-creamy. I don’t know if it was the continuous stirring, cooking with milk, or a combination of the two, but I was really impressed with this recipe as a whole. It also heated up great for lunch today!
I’ve been making creamy polenta for some years now. I use mostly milk, or half milk and half chicken broth when I make it. Sometimes cheese. Sometimes it’s just a bed for some kind of soupy meat that goes on top, then some cheese on top of that, perhaps. But when I make it, it’s always a creamy style (never hardens up like the type you cut into squares, etc.) but more like the consistency of oatmeal or cream of wheat. If it starts to get too thick I just add more milk to it to make sure it stays soupy. It does need a bit of butter, though.
Thanks for your notes Carolyn! Polenta is so new to me, we’re going to be playing around with it a lot, I suspect.