Monday, February 16, 2009

Tonight Dinner: I'm doing it wrong, part 2

I tried to make this for dinner (another Martha Stewart Everyday item, but this one you can link to. Weird.)

This recipe is just wrong. (Maybe you can only link to the screwed-up ones.)

It says to simmer the polenta over low heat for 10 minutes until thickened. My polenta took almost 20 minutes to thicken up, over increasingly high heat. It also says to deglaze the pan (not the polenta pan, the pan you cooked the beef in) and then boil the vinegar over high heat for 5-7 minutes until it reduces. At about 3 minutes, my vinegar seized up into a disgusting black mess, not unlike the monster in The Blob.



Also, no tomatoes in February, not even grape tomatoes. I made peas.
That may not be the recipe's fault, technically.

It wasn't bad.

Edited to add: Speaking for food, check out this birthday cake from Pink Cake Box in New Jersey. Via Ravelry.

4 comments:

Jennette said...

It's the curse of polenta. I made some recently and it thickened up in HALF the time it was supposed to, causing it to burn a little on the bottom before I noticed. Boo!

Dawn Fortune said...

Try making risotto for your starch. Way easier and better behaved than polenta. It's rice instead of corn, but with the right herbs can compliment just about any main dish.

Dawn Fortune said...

here's a link about risotto. try it out. http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5he4a6N2znqrE8i7YBNhJdk0TVFjg

Pastor Joelle said...

I've never had good luck with polenta. Its sounds like such a good idea but it's just mush...