Polenta Fingers And Blood Red Tomato Sauce Recipes

BAKED POLENTA WITH TOMATO SAUCE AND RICOTTA

Steps:

• To prepare the tomato sauce:
• Preheat the oven to 425°F. Place the tomatoes, yellow onion, and garlic in a baking pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until the garlic is soft and the skin is peeling away from the tomatoes. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. Remove the skin from the tomatoes and put in a saucepan. Squeeze the garlic out of the bulb and into the tomatoes. Remove the skin from the onion. Coarsely chop the onion and add to the tomatoes.
• Add the olive oil to the tomatoes and puree with a handheld immersion blender until smooth. You may need to add up to 1/3 cup water if there is not enough liquid. Season with salt. Warm the tomato sauce just prior to use.
• To prepare the polenta:
• Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a medium saucepan, bring 3 cups of water to a simmer and stream in the polenta. Whisk together until there are no lumps. Cover with a lid and continue to cook over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes. Be careful when you go to stir the polenta-it tends to spit out pieces of the cornmeal, which is very hot. Remove the polenta from the heat and stir in the olive oil and basil. Drop in teaspoon-size pieces of the ricotta cheese. Pour the polenta into an 8-inch square baking pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and let sit for 1 hour or until the polenta has firmed up. Bake the polenta in the oven for 15 minutes or until heated through. Cut the polenta into 8 equal pieces.
• To serve:
• Place 1/2 cup warm tomato sauce in 4 shallow bowls and top with two pieces of the polenta. Sprinkle with the chopped basil.

BASIC POLENTA

Steps:

• Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a heavy large saucepan. Add 2 teaspoons of salt. Gradually whisk in the cornmeal. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the mixture thickens and the cornmeal is tender, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. Add the butter, and stir until melted.

EASY POLENTA WITH TOMATO SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch square baking dish.
• In a large pot, combine the milk and chicken stock. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When it is at a rolling boil, gradually whisk in the cornmeal, making sure there are no lumps. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring constantly until thick, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese.
• Pour the polenta into the prepared baking dish, and spread spaghetti sauce over the top.
• Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until sauce is bubbling.

ROAST OF INCREDIBLE GAME BIRDS WITH PROPER POLENTA

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to full whack about 500 degrees F.
• Either ask your butcher to spatchcock the guinea fowl or chicken, and the pheasant for you, or have a go at doing it yourself. Turn the bird upside down and cut underneath the legs with a good pair of scissors. Remove the bony part of the carcass that has no meat on it (bearing in mind that you want to save the incredible meat around the legs) and open the bird out like a book. You can then stuff the cavities of the other birds with flavorings - a sprig of rosemary, a sprig of thyme and a little orange or lemon zest.
• Place the onion, celery and carrots in a large roasting pan (or 2 small ones) and lay the sausages and birds on top. Throw in the bay leaves and the rest of the thyme and rosemary. Drizzle with olive oil and massage it into each bird. Season all the meat generously. Place in the preheated oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 350 degrees F. Cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, turning the birds a few times, until the meat is juicy and cooked through to the bone.
• After half an hour, bring 1 quart of salted water to the boil in a non-stick pan and whisk in the polenta. Turn the heat right down, place a lid on so it's ajar (otherwise the pan might spit hot polenta at you!) and simmer for 50 minutes, stirring it as often as you can. If it starts to become too thick, add some more hot water.
• Remove the birds from the oven, lift them out of the pan and keep warm. Put the pan on the burner, pour in the wine and simmer gently to make a quick sauce. Then see to the polenta - it'll need some serious perking up now. Stir in about 3/4 of the butter and all the grated Parmesan. Once smooth, taste and season if required. It should now be delicious! Spoon all the polenta onto a big board or platter, spread it out evenly and put to 1 side to firm up a little.
• Give your sauce a stir and add the rest of the butter. Strain it through a sieve into a pan, pressing down hard. Cut the bigger birds into drumstick thighs and breast pieces and place with all the other birds on top of your polenta. Slice the sausages and add to the pile. Spoon the red wine sauce over the top and finish with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. Put the board in the middle of the table and let everyone dive in. A fantastic feast!
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CHEESY BAKED POLENTA IN TOMATO SAUCE

Steps:

• Cut out a piece of parchment paper about 16-by-12 inches/40-by-30 centimeters in size and lay onto a clean work surface.
• Prepare the polenta: Add the milk, garlic, 1 1/2 tablespoons oil, 1 teaspoon salt and a good grind of pepper to a medium saucepan. Bring to a bare simmer, stirring occasionally, over medium-high heat. Turn the heat to medium-low and slowly pour in the polenta, whisking continuously, until completely incorporated and there are no lumps. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring all the while with a spatula. When cooked, the mixture should pull away from the sides of the pan and be quite thick.
• Add the Parmesan, stirring for another 30 seconds to melt. Remove from the heat and transfer the mixture to the parchment paper. Use your hands to quickly shape the polenta into a large cylindrical shape, about 13-inches/32-centimeters long. Use the parchment paper to help you tighten the cylinder and then gently roll the whole thing in the paper, tightening as you go, then twisting in opposite directions at both ends. Refrigerate to set for about 1 hour, or longer if time allows.
• Meanwhile, make the sauce: Add the olive oil to a large, ovenproof cast-iron pan that is roughly 11-inches/28-centimeters wide, and heat over medium-high. Once hot, add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 minutes, or until softened and lightly colored.
• Stir in the garlic, red-pepper flakes and oregano, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and their juices, sugar, a scant 1/2 cup/100 milliliters water, 3/4 teaspoon salt and a good grind of pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium-high. Turn the heat down to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly. Set aside until needed.
• Heat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit/230 degrees Celsius.
• Gently unwrap the chilled polenta and transfer to a cutting board. Trim about 1 inch/2 to 3 centimeters off the ends and then cut the polenta into 24 (1-centimeter-thick) slices.
• Top the tomato sauce evenly with the sliced fontina, then fan out the polenta slices, overlapping slightly, so that they're spiraled to cover the top, leaving a 1-centimeter gap from the edge of the pan. Drizzle the polenta with the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until polenta is golden in places and the sauce is bubbling. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes to settle.
• While the polenta cools, in a small bowl combine all the topping ingredients. Sprinkle a handful of the topping over the polenta and serve the remaining in a bowl alongside. Serve warm.

POLENTA WITH PARMESAN AND TOMATO SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the polenta, water and salt in a 2-quart baking dish. Stir together, and place in the oven. Bake 50 minutes. Remove from the oven, stir in the butter and return to the oven for 10 more minutes. Remove from the oven and stir again. Return to the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, and stir in the Parmesan, if using. Spoon onto plates, make a depression in the middle and spoon 1/4 heaped cup of simple tomato sauce into the depression. Sprinkle with Parmesan and serve.

POLENTA WITH TOMATO AND WILD MUSHROOM SAUCE

Steps:

• Cover mushrooms with hot water and set aside.
• Crush the plum tomatoes between the fingers and place in pot, without the juice, along with the thyme, oregano and pepper. Cook over medium high heat for 10 minutes, until most of liquid has been absorbed.
• Drain mushrooms and squeeze out liquid; chop coarsely and add to tomatoes. Strain leftover liquid. Add some mushroom liquid if tomato mixture has become too dry.
• Meanwhile, bring chicken stock to boil (follow directions on instant polenta package for amount of liquid needed).
• When stock has boiled, slowly add polenta, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick and liquid has been absorbed.
• Serve polenta topped with the tomato-mushroom sauce and grated cheese.

POLENTA

Steps:

• Bring water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Pour in polenta steadily, stirring constantly. Continue to stir until polenta is thickened. It should come away from sides of the pan, and be able to support a spoon. This can take anywhere from 20 to 50 minutes. Pour polenta onto a wooden cutting board, let stand for a few minutes.

POLENTA BITES WITH BLUE CHEESE, TOMATOES, AND PINE NUTS

Steps:

• Lightly butter 24 mini muffin cups (each about 1 3/4 inches in diameter with 1/2-inch-high sides).
• Bring broth to boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; gradually whisk in cornmeal. Cook until mixture is very thick, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in Parmesan. Season with salt.
• Spoon 1 1/2 tablespoons hot polenta into each muffin cup. Using back of spoon, pack polenta firmly into cups. Using finger, make indentation in center of each polenta tart for filling. Chill until cold and set, about 3 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; keep chilled.)
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheet with foil. Using tip of knife, lift polenta tarts from pan. Transfer tarts, indented side up, to prepared baking sheet. Place 1 blue cheese cube in each indentation. Sprinkle green onion and pine nuts over cheese. Top each tart with 2 tomato quarters. Bake until cheese is melted and polenta is warmed through, about 5 minutes. Transfer tarts to platter; sprinkle with basil and serve.