Polenta

When I was growing up in the south,  you mixed a little bit of corn meal with an egg and some milk or even water, baked it in a cast iron skillet until brown, and that was what you had with dinner every night.  Good old fashioned cornbread.  A skillet of cornbread might cost you about five cents.

Then later in my life, watching cooking shows on television, and reading recipes in magazines, as an adult, I discovered polenta.   If purchased as a dish in a fancy restaurant, a serving might cost more like fifteen dollars.

Because of my childhood experience with corn meal,  I have never actually  either tasted or made polenta----until this afternoon.   Oh, how I wish I had taken a picture.  It was so very lovely!

I watched Mario Batalli make polenta on The Chew, and it looked so delicious, I wanted to try it myself.   I read some recipes on-line and learned the basic process.  I usually modify recipes to use what I happen to have on hand.  

What I selected was a mushroom and carmelized onion version, a topping for the polenta.  It was so absolutely out of this world,  that I'd have to say we really had a gourmet dinner!  Polenta along with an herb roasted pork loin and roasted asparagus.

I have definitely gotten over my prejudice about polenta!   I see from the recipes that you can also bake it  (which I did for part of it), and cut it into a variety of different shapes and it becomes so very versatile. The possibilities are endless.

There are so many new things to discover later in life!   Goodbye cornbread  (which I no longer cook or eat anyway) and hello fancy-pants-polenta!