Making Polenta with Pops (VIDEO)

February 3, 2016
It’s been a while since i added to this book of stories…mostly because my brother Paul Cortellesi​ had broken his tibula or bibula…but it certainly wasn’t no fibula cause I saw the scar on his leg 🙂

Anyway…when my dad told me today that we were gonna have Polenta tonight…I had to share with him my memory of being a kid and everytime I heard the word “Polenta”…I thought it was some poor town in upstate New York like Poughkeepsie (got a giggle outta pop on that one) – in fact…I art directed this photo to reflect that notion…that feeling – the figurines pictured have been in my kitchen as long as I can remember and usually hung out in one exposed shelf or another looking down at the activities taking place in the kitchen…I can only imagine the “quarters matches” they saw during my high school days…ha – but tonight…they actually made it down to the big stage and they didn’t seem any more pleased about it than when…well you understand…anyway…back to Polenta…ah yes Polenta…that cool refreshing drink…what?..come on……OK…it is actually very easy to make but like many things cooking…hard to make just right – in this case…we used a fine grain corn meal – not the course stuff like we usually do…the result…a much cleaner almost sweeter taste…but the polenta itself didn’t hold up as solid as if we were to start with a thicker base product – by the way…I have to say…it was the best Polenta I have had in years and yes…the only polenta I have had in years but thats besides the point
The other aspect of this was that we did it the way my great grand mother taught my father…we poured it out on a wooded board and attacked from all sides on the kitchen table. It was like a game of “hungry hippos” each of us slapping away trying to eat all the marbles but what fun we had.

For those interested…this is a great meal to share with family and friends…its a “all hands on deck” (and table) type thing and lends itself to much joy and laughter