On Sunday I made Polenta-Stuffed Peppers. This was a pretty tasty recipe. I opted to make polenta instead of buying it. In hindsight, I should have made the polenta ahead of time since it was to be measured in weight. To do that, I would have needed to cook it, let it cool, and then weight it out, I guess. Instead, I attempted to hastily make it and use it. I hadn’t made polenta in awhile, and I did a sloppy job, so it ended up a lot thinner than it should have been, and lumpy. This wasn’t all bad, but it probably contributed to the kind of yucky look my finished product took on….
Polenta-Stuffed Pepper
I really should focus on taking more appealing pictures of my recipes in the future. I actually took this exact pepper to work, where I cut it open and let all the lumpy polenta spill out and ate it! I got a few “What is that??” questions. Anyway, my husband gave this recipe a 7 and I gave it a 6. I might have rated it higher if I’d done a better job with the polenta. I might actually attempt this one again because I looooove roasted peppers!
For those of you who would like to make your own polenta, here’s a good basic recipe to start from:
Basic Polenta
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
Boil the 3 cups of water in a saucepan. Whisk together the cornmeal, 1 cup water, and salt in a bowl and pour into the boiling water. If you don’t mix the cornmeal with the water first, it will end up lumpy. Lower the temperature to a simmer and cover, stirring every few minutes. Cook for 15 minutes.
You can use the cornmeal as a breakfast cereal or side dish, or you can pour it into a cake or loaf pan and refrigerate it overnight. The resulting thickened cornmeal (called polenta) can be sliced and fried, cut into shapes, or chopped up and used in recipes (like the pepper recipe I made). Polenta is good as a savory dish or a sweet one. I like to cut it into large slices, fry it, and eat it for breakfast with maple syrup on top. 🙂 You can add just about anything to the polenta while cooking it (sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, herbs and spices, etc.) to give it different flavors.
A Whole Foods Diet 