Recipe - Master Recipe For Polenta

Salt
2 cup Coarse italian cornmeal

*Use this recipe to make the basic polenta required for preparing the
"Polenta `Lasagne' with Beef, Tomato, and Red Wine Sauce", "Soft Polenta
with Porcini Mushroom Sauce", and "Polenta Crostini with Tuna Butter and
Capers." Many of these dishes require that you cook the polenta, cool it,
and cut it into squares. However, the soft polenta prepared to serve with
Porcini Mushroom sauce has a looser texture. If you find that the polenta
made from this master recipe is too stiff for the soft polenta and mushroom
dish, stir in One fourth cup boiling water to "loosen" it. TO COOK: Bring 7 cup water
to boil in a large saucepan. Add 1T salt. Stirring constantly with a
longhandled wooden spoon, add cornmeal in a slow, constant steam o prevent
lumps from forming. Simmer, stirring consntly until polenta is very thick
and creamy and pulls awarom the sides of the pan, 25 to 30 min. Proceed
immediately a ructed in the individual recipes. MICROWAVE VERSION: (Just as
good but er) Put 1 T salt, the cornmeal, cup water in a 4 qt microwavesafe
bowl. Cover and chis mixture on high power, stirring every 6 min until cr
24 min in all. Proceed immediately as your are ucted in the individual
recipe of your choice. Makes 7 cups. * Because polenta contanly cornmeal,
salt, and water, the texture of the cornme important. Unless you have
access to a specialty foop or want to use mail order, the exact texture of
the cornme you find taly is unavailable in the US.
To find out how to best approximate Italian po, using cornmeal that is
available here, COOK'S tried m it with fineground, coarseground, and an
equal re of the two types (in all cases, Goya brand meal wad).

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini