Polenta fries

May 18, 2010 | 8 Comments »

I tried polenta fries for the first time a few months ago from Candle 79. I thought it was one of the best things I had ever tasted. I never thought of making them myself because I assumed they were too complicated. It’s not really like me to walk away from a challenge, but I was afraid of messing up so badly that I’d never get to enjoy them again. I’m weird like that. Well, tonight I wasn’t very hungry. I wanted to eat something small and I totally wasn’t feeling a smoothie. I had some polenta on hand and figured I’d give in and try making those delicious fries myself. If I messed up it’s no big deal. I wasn’t so hungry anyway.

I looked up some recipes online. Most called for using the tube version which I don’t care for AT ALL. I watched some videos on YouTube and took a little bit of info from each video and decided to just wing it. I boiled 2 cups of water and added 1 cup of polenta. I stirred it up and added some salt and vegan parmesan and continued to stir until the mixture thickened. Then I placed the mixture into a lightly oiled baking dish. I spread it out evenly and then refrigerated it for about 2 hours. Once it was completely hardened I flipped the dish over the counter and sliced the polenta into strips. Then I fried it until golden brown on each side and seasoned with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. These totally hit the spot. I only wish I had that delicious chipotle ketchup to go with them. Maybe next time?

These were definitely much easier than I imagined. Why did I wait so long? Silly me.