I had polenta today and it was...

[Epicure]

crap. What do you normally do with it? I sliced and fried it as per the instructions and it was soggy and tasteless. It was pre-made - does that make a difference? I now have 3/4 of a pack left, what do you do with polenta?

dikkerjap Do you make yr porridge with the quick polenta? Is it nice? I've got 3 packs in the cupboard and keep ignoring it! some is called mamaliga from Rumania.

Though I've made that cake Beenbeta it's fab!! i'm going to make it this christmas too!!

ppeatruit - interestng you are doing it for Xmas. DW just suggested that too about 5 mins ago.

I thought maybe trying orange and ginger and a icing sugar top as a more Christmassy variation.

I cant eat anythng with wheat flour in so Xmas is a bit tricky for me.

Same here! the whole family prefers not to eat wheat I even make the xmas pud with Kamut flour it's actually nicer and behaves quite similarly.

Sadly Kamut (it is an ancient wheat?) has gluten in so I cant eat it but it can be eaten by people with not too severe wheat intolerance.

Are you coeliac Beenbeta? Can you eat rye?'cos Waitose sells lovely rye bread. Have we had this chat before? I'm getting deja vu!

Yes I am coeliac so no I cant eat Rye. I can eat oats a little bit.

There are quite a few coeliacs on MN so maybe we have - cant rememeber though.

My Italian grandmother used to make polenta dolce which is proper polenta made up so it's solid, then cut in to slices and fried in butter and dusted in sugar. It's really yummy and not a single calorie (erm, I'm lying about that last bit :o)

I remember now beenbeta it was about gluten free flour! do you use polenta in the almond cake 'cos that is very nice!

Hi, I always used the dry polenta, but I suppose given that the ready made one seems very stodgy, nothing stops you taking a chunk, chopping it in smaller pieces and bringing to boil with milk, stirring well. Add some sugar and hopefully will taste okay. I really quite like polenta porridge made with the dry polenta, dd as well (dh is horrified by it and likes it classic italian ways). Agree that it is worthwhile trying to do something with it rather than just throwing away ...

Ds, 8, loves it!

DH (italian) makes a rich beef stew with polenta and we put gorgonzola in the middle of the polenta so the cheese goes gooey!

Yum!

I add about 2 tbs of uncooked polenta to turkey meatballs instead of breadcrumbs and think it is a great substitution. I have tried it once when there was no white bread and have been using it ever since.

ppeatfruit - yes polenta is nice with almond. I have found it a quite versatile substitute for flour in things.

Colourworld* - you just gave me an idea for substuting bread in stuffing at Xmas.

I also read recently that quinoa can be mixed in when making gluten free or een normal bread - its a different thing to maize but a fantastic nutritious food in itself if someone cant eat normal grains like wheat or barley or oats.

Beenbeta Would you cook the quinoa when adding to bread? I have added cooked whole rice and rice flour, not cooked of course, to bread with good results as well.

it's a lovely coating for homemade chicken nuggets.. if you mix some with some cajan powder , and dip the chicken in a bit of egg and roll it in the pollenta and bake... yum

Vile stuff.

ppeatfruit - I just put the quinoa in raw with the flour and other ingredients at the begining of the bread making process.

I make bread with a mix of rice/potato/maize flour plus nuts, fruit, ett. Whatever is in the cupboard really.

Thanks Been; have you tried chestnut stuffing? Hi Emm (waves)

Hi PP

this might help

can't guarantee, but i clicked on a couple that used ready-made polenta.