To Maria, Judy and Colleen re: Ottolenghi's Corn Polenta

M

marilynfl

Moderator
Basically, colleen's description of the work involved scared me but you are all raving about this so now I'm tempted to try it.

But on the other hand, colleen's description of the work involved scared me.

So knowing that all three of you have tasted and highly approved of this dish, could I get away with THIS work-around just to see if I like the idea:

I already have grits made (stored in the freezer)

I already have ratatouille made (stored in the freezer)

I already have a bag of corn kernels (stored in the freezer)

Could I saute the frozen corn, pulse it and add that to the grits, then add the feta, then add a bit more tomatoes to the ratatouille and call it a day? Would that get me close enough to see if I want to make the recipe from scratch.

https://finerkitchens.com/swap/forum1/268515_Questions_for_Maria_and_Judy_on_Ottolenghi's_Eggplant_Polenta

 
I think I read the directions correctly. There isn't any "polenta: or grits in the recipe.

The polenta is the stewed and blenderized corn.
The eggplant is just baked until it collapses and then scraped out of the skin.
I think there are a lot of words but it is really only two processes. ;o)

 
Yes, sounds like a reasonable workaround

For the rat/eggplant, taste and consider the addition of water, white wine, chopped tomato, tomato paste and sugar. All are small quantities but maybe a sprinkle of each in your ratatouille?
I would simmer the corn kernels instead of sautéing to create the cooking liquid, strain (save cooking liquid) and process. My final polenta was wetter than grits. Like creamy mashed potatoes instead of dry ones. I would mix your grits with (some? of) the strained cooking liquid and the corn paste, and then cook while stirring to reduce and integrate the ingredients. My polenta was so sweet due to the corn. *****"Alternately, if you like the consistency after combining" both hot, add butter, feta, S&P and go with it! Let us know, Colleen

 
In my defense, I was exhausted and scattered smileys/wink.gif I started another batch of polenta

last night - simmered corn kernels and cooking liquid so far - that I've stashed in the freezer. Tomorrow, I'll make the eggplant and more polenta from 6 new ears. Slowly, early in the day. Colleen

 
Yes, but minus the grits. It

My friend made it with parmesan instead of feta because that’s all she had on hand and said it still came out good.

The ratatouille would make a good substitute for the topping, you’ll definitely get the idea on whether or not you want to make it.

 
Yes, no polenta/grits in the fresh corn polenta, but eggplant is diced/fried

Then drained/other ingredients added. For example you do taste a hint of the wine in the final product.

 
Thanks to all of you. The work-around definitely worked. I like this dish!

Here was my quick and dirty version:

Sautéed a 1 lb tube of McKenzie's Fried Corn (frozen food aisle.) in 2 TBL of butter. They were already broken down, pre-cooked with lots of juice (so heating is only necessary) but I added the butter to mimic the recipe.

Tossed it in the Vitamix and pureed. The result was thin-ish (sadly, a word never used to describe me) and so I added about 1/2 C of finished grits from the freezer because that was all that had thawed by that point. Remember, I was going for a quickie version, (and didn't want to spend time reducing the corn), so I zapped the blended version again at Uber-speed and poured it back into the sauté pan. Simmered for 2-3 minutes until it mounded on a spoon. Very corny-sweet and not at all like neutral-tasting grits. That sounded like the density I was going for so I added the feta, leaving some of it whole (Thanks, Maria). Then I stood there and ate several spoonfuls until I mentally slapped myself and said to stop. Thankfully, I listened.

Next up, the thawed ratatouille. I had used Japanese eggplant (from the neighbor) but had peeled it, so I didn't run into the peel issues. There were also onions, one zucchini and half a sweet red pepper along with canned diced tomatoes. I added another half can of tomatoes, some white wine (does everyone have open bottles of wine sitting around?) and fresh oregano (thanks, Colleen).

I tested SEVERAL large spoonfuls of the two and knew this was a winner for me. I think the key difference is the density of the eggplant. Since ratatouille cooks for a while, the eggplant softens to a higher degree than if it had been fried as in the Ottolenghi recipe. The image of that eggplant looks cube-like and you don't get that with ratatouille.

But, start to finish, I was sampling this within 10 minutes. Compare that to the 2 hours spent making that Martha Steward apple pudding only to find out it was just fair? Absolutely no comparison.

I have both PLENTY and JERUSALEM and this recipe isn't in either. However, there is a boatload of eggplant recipes in both and now I'll try them out.

Thanks again!

 
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