I like polenta, but oddly enough, I am talking about the kind that is in a tube. I am not sure I have tried the mush type — oh wait, I think I had a taste of some at a restaurant and it was delicious. But I don’t make that kind. I have only cooked with the tube kind. It is very firm and a bit rubbery. It can be sliced. I imagine it can be made into the mush kind with enough liquid. But, if you’ve read more than one of my posts about food you know I love to roast things. I love to put things in the oven and then be able to do something else while it is cooking. Well, I posted once about Polenta “Fries” so my Cubed Polenta is not that different. But the “fries” were really french fry-like, whereas the polenta cubes were more like my roasted potatoes. They were very good, as least I thought so.
The same cooking method applies the only difference is the way you cut the polenta.
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Polenta Cubes
1 tube of polenta
olive oil
season salt
Preheat the oven to 450° F. Cut the polenta out of the plastic. Then cut the polenta into small even cubes. Cut the whole tube into equal sized cubes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Then spread the cubes out on the pan. Sprinkle with a little oil. Sprinkle with the season salt. Place pan in the oven. Let the polenta bake for 15 minutes. Then take the pan out of the oven and stir the cubes around. Put the pan back in the oven for another 15 minutes. Then check the polenta. If they are done to your liking, take them out and serve. If you want them cooked more, flip ’em or toss them on the pan, then put it in for 10 (or whatever) minutes.
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If you cut the cubes even then the whole pan should cook pretty much the same. When I do potatoes for some reason I end up with really small ones and big ones and they don’t all cook even so I have some that start to burn before the others are cooked. With the tube it is easier to cut them all the same size. I buy the basil garlic polenta in a tube. I like it to start off with flavor.
As I said, the cubes are more like potatoes, in fact my husband kept calling them potatoes. A little bit different texture and consistency but ok.
The problem with me typing up my blog before dinner is I end up wanting the food I am writing about. Sometimes I can make it because I have it, but presently I do not have any polenta . . . but I see a trip to the store in my future.
In my Polenta Fries post I asked for ideas for tubes of polenta, I didn’t get any . . . so hence, cubed polenta.
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