Polenta is a cornmeal mush popular in Italian, Savoy, Swiss, Austrian, Croatian, Slovenian, Serbian, Romanian, Corsican, Argentinean, Brazilian, and Mexican cuisine. It is a traditional staple food throughout much of northern Italy.
Formerly a peasant food, polenta has recently become quite upscale, with polenta dishes in restaurants and prepared polenta found in supermarkets commanding high prices. Many new recipes have given new life to an item which is, in essence, a fairly bland and common food, invigorating it with various cheeses or tomato sauces.
Polenta is made with either coarsely, medium, or finely ground dried yellow or white cornmeal (ground maize), depending on the region and the texture desired. |
