Spring Vegetable Polenta bowl, with Video!
Please enjoy this ASMR-type quick video of me making polenta and sautéing some vegetables. Asparagus, green beans, and not nearly enough spinach that I cooked with some shallots, grated garlic, and red pepper flakes that then get piled on top of a creamy bowl of polenta. This meal was about 90% sourced from my CSA box (all the vegetables sans the spinach and the herbs; the butter and polenta) 10% from the grocery store (milk, parm, aforementioned spinach). I just had a massive craving for vegetables and last week that craving included something creamy and cheesy. I had the silly idea that polenta was time-consuming and possibly finicky and realized that was wrong. Timing and liquid ratio are probably the most important parts of making polenta, not constant whisking for 30 or more minutes straight. I ended up using about 4 cups total of liquid to 1 cup of polenta; you can use stock, milk, or a combination of the two (you could use water, also but I like using stock or milk for the extra flavor).
I ate this meal twice in the last two weeks because I filmed a few long clips which I thought would not work with Instagram’s Reels or Tikok’s 30 second - 1 minute time limit, and anyway I had a bunch of vegetables to use up. That first time I had some leftover pot liquor from making collard greens the other weekend, so I used a combination of that stock + milk for the polenta. The second time around I used only milk though which is evident in the video. The polenta will thicken almost immediately, so you then just turn your heat to low and let it do its thing (meaning, continue to thicken). I would say I whisked it every 5 minutes or so, adding more milk when necessary. I wanted the polenta to be thick but still pourable so that I could easily ladle it into a bowl. Cooking the polenta first, then just setting it over a low flame and whisking every now and then while I sautéed the vegetables meant it stayed warm and had the consistency I wanted for plating. Total cook time for the polenta was about 20 minutes, but you could take it a bit farther than that if you wanted and had the time (I’ve seen recipes call for 40-50 minute cook time). Season with salt, black pepper, and of course add a couple pads of butter.
I usually sauté asparagus and green beans. I just prefer it to roasting because first of all, it’s quicker and the general consensus for tender, but semi-crisp, always delicious vegetables is to cook them kinda quickly. I grew up not loving the way my mom made vegetables because they were usually overcooked and lackluster (no offense at all to my mom), so being able to keep an eye on them to avoid all that is the way to go for me. If your asparagus is quite thick, add a little bit of water to the pan (maybe ¼ cup if you’re cooking a pound of asparagus), turn heat to medium-high, cover it, and let them steam for about 5 minutes. I learned this technique from the masterful Edna Lewis. The green beans started off with shallots, actually because I had them on hand and needed to use them — how many home cooked meals start off this way!
The green beans get sautéed in the same skillet I cooked the asparagus in (no need to wipe the pan clean), then topped off with a few handfuls of spinach that will wilt down to a sad amount so keep that in mind if you’re feeding more than two people. I let the spinach steam by just covering the skillet with a lid for a few minutes before squeezing lemon juice over everything. Salt, black pepper, grated garlic, red pepper flakes and that squeeze of lemon juice is how I typically season asparagus and green beans. You can use whatever seasoning and spices you like, although we would probably all agree that salt is a requirement.
Grated parmesan and whatever fresh herbs you have on hand can be used for garnish. If you want to add a slightly grassy bright note, make a chimichurri! Roughly chopped fresh herbs, more grated garlic, a splash of whatever vinegar you have on hand, salt, black pepper, and yes more pepper flakes that all get whisked or stirred around with just enough olive oil to cover the herbs, and your bright note is ready. Make sure to do the chimi before preparing or cooking anything else that way it has time to hang out in the fridge for a little while. I dabbed little bits of tangy goat cheese on top which paired nicely with the chimichurri.
A couple of weeks ago I just decided on a whim to film the process of making collard greens on a Sunday morning (shout out to Angela Davis aka The Kitchenista’s Southern Greens recipe) and I was having lots of fun. When I shared some of the videos in my Instagram stories, someone cheekily replied to critique my slicing and then I felt vulnerable and wondered what else I was doing not quite right. Nonetheless, I will be sharing more cooking and baking videos as promised in the blog post from a couple weeks ago. I edited this video using iMovie which I have no initial complaints about. There is a shorter Reel on my Instagram of me plating this dish with Jessie Ware’s beautiful song Remember Where You Are playing in the background, if that’s more your speed. I chose that song because it sounded spring-y to me and made the polenta bowl feel like the star of its own music video, which it is.
