Yummy Creamy Polenta

Hi, did you have a good Christmas? Did you enjoy yourself and your loved ones? Good, I’m happy for you.

We had a very nice celebration on Christmas Eve and a lazy day just the three of us on Christmas Day. And because I behaved very well during the whole year I got three new cookbooks as Christmas gifts. Nice! Lots of new recipes to try and I’ll be sharing them with you at some other day.

Another question, do you like polenta? We do, and a lot. So, for today’s post we have polenta in tribute to the cold weather in Hong Kong (temperature today is about 16 C and will drop to 10 by the end of the week). Nothing better than a hot, creamy, steamy polenta in a cold day…yumm!

You will see very soon that this is not a traditional polenta recipe. It contains polenta, minced beef and cheese ... a lot of cheese. I suggest that you just accept that this is a high calorie dish and enjoy it without any guilt. It is cold, and we all know that we eat more when it is cold so no point in fighting it. Just enjoy it and put some extra minutes in your workout.

Yummy Creamy Polenta

Polenta:

500ml of water

500ml of chicken stock

¾ cup of polenta flour

1  tablespoon  of butter

2  tablespoon  of grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon of salt

Minced Beef Sauce:

2 tablespoons of olive oil

500g of minced beef

2 medium tomatoes

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

1 cup of water

2 cloves of garlic

Basil leaves

Salt and black pepper

150g of mozzarella cheese

In a deep pan mix the water and the chicken stock for the polenta. Let it boil.

In a blender mix the 2 tomatoes (roughly chopped), the garlic, basil, tomato paste and water until creamy. Reserve.

 

In a saucepan heat the oil. Add the minced beef and cook for 2 minutes. Transfer the tomato cream from the blender to the pan, add salt and pepper and let it cook for 10 minutes in low heat stirring from time to time.

When the water for the polenta is boiling add the salt and the polenta flour. You have to add the flour in a very low stream and mix it constantly to prevent forming lumps. Keep mixing for about 5 minutes until the flour dissolves and cooks in the water. The polenta is ready when the texture is creamy, not grainy anymore. (The cooking time will depend on the time of polenta flour you are using. Some need more than 30 minutes to cook, so please read the instructions in the package carefully. I always use this same one and mine polenta is done in 5 minutes, not more than that). Once done, turn off the heat and mix the butter and Parmesan cheese, stirring for 1 more minute until smooth and creamy. Transfer the polenta to a serving plate.

 

Add one layer of grated cheese to the polenta and one layer of minced beef on top of the cheese. Finish up with some extra grated Parmesan cheese.