There’s a secret that people don’t tell you about polenta: It’s easy to make! I’m pretty sure I don’t make it the traditional way since I always hear about people slaving over a pan of polenta, à la risotto, and that’s not at all what I do. I just boil water, whisk in cornmeal (fine or coarse – chef’s choice) and stir. Within a few seconds, the polenta thickens up, and you can have a meal in 15 minutes. It’s literally that easy. It’s a great side dish for thanksgiving, especially if you have vegans in your family, and let’s be honest, who doesn’t?! In terms of additions to polenta, people often add cream or grated cheese, but I’ve found that if you’re looking for a vegan/parve polenta, a great way to both flavor and add to the creaminess, is to add tons of roasted garlic. Our CSA farm offers a separate 3-pound garlic share, of which I ordered 2. That’s how much I love garlic. 6 pounds much! Roasting garlic is easy – all you have to do is lop off the very top of a head of garlic (but save those little tips!), wrap tightly in tin foil, and throw in a 400F oven for about 30-40 minutes. Once cool, you can squish out the resultant roasted garlic easily with the back of a knife and add it to anything you’d like, from marinades to pasta sauce – or even schmear a little on top of bread.
I am a sucker for the polenta/mushroom combo, a flavor profile you’ve probably seen before on this blog. In terms of the mushrooms, I often choose shitake and maitake, which can be expensive, but worth it when you factor in the immune-boosting properties. Just chop them up, and sauté over medium/low heat with the tips of the garlic, salt and pepper, thyme (if you have it) and olive oil. Mushrooms give of a lot of moisture when cooking, and I find that cooking slowly over low heat insures they soften up without burning.
The Tuv Ha’aretz Forest Hills CSA we belong to also organizes shares of grain, bean and flour from Cayuga Pure Organics, an Ithaca-based company. They offer both cornmeal (finely ground) and polenta (coarsely ground). If I’m planning on keeping the resultant cornmeal soft and smooth, I use the finely ground cornmeal. If I’m planning on baking it or cutting it into squares (like this other mushroom polenta recipe), I use the coarsely ground cornmeal. Either way, cornmeal is something you want to try to buy organic, since corn is often genetically modified and sprayed with tons of pesticides. It also keeps pretty much forever, so you don’t have to worry about it going bad if it’s kept either in the fridge or freezer. I find the ratio for creamy polenta is a little more than 2:1, so if I’m cooking 1 cup of cornmeal (which will serve 2 for a main course), I use about 2.5 cups of water. Bring the water to a boil, and whisk in the polenta. I like to use a flat whisk, but whatever you have that you can keep whisking with will be fine. If there are clumps, keep whisking, and it it becomes too think, just add more water. When the cornmeal has thickened, add the roasted garlic, salt, about a tablespoon of olive oil and more water if needed. Whisk until smooth, top with sautéed mushrooms, and voila – a delicious, vegan side dish!
I love Rosh Hashanah! It’s such a charged time of the year, when we reflect on the past year and reset and refocus on the year ahead. I also love the traditional foods we eat at the Rosh Hashanah table – apples, honey, pomegranates, dates…. Like most Jewish holidays, the food we serve has symbolic meaning. Traditionally, sweet foods (apples, honey) are served to bring sweetness to the year ahead and the challah for Rosh hashanah is woven into beautiful, round loaves to highlight the cyclical nature of the year. I was excited to try to make a sweet, round challah this year, and I used this 
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Rye Berries for Breakfast
Steel-cut oatmeal has been a long-time favorite Winter breakfast for me, but lately I’ve been branching out, inspired by the fact that we have a ton of other whole grains in our pantry such as oat groats, spelt berries, wheat berries, farro and rye berries. These grains all came from Cayuga Pure Organics, a bean and grain farm located near Ithaca, NY that is a provider for our CSA.
I’ve been treating these grains the way I would treat steel cut oatmeal, and it’s my new favorite way to start off the day! Follow these instructions to turn any whole grain into a warm, hearty breakfast flavored just to your liking.
Instructions:
Heartier whole grains such as rye berries and wheat berries cook quicker if you soak them overnight prior to cooking. A single serving is about 1/2 cup of dried grain. Just measure out the grain and put it in a bowl covered by at least a couple of inches of water (preferably filtered). Cover, and leave overnight. The next morning (or some hours later), strain the grain and put it in a heavy pot with water in a 2:1 water:grain ratio. Don’t worry about using too much water as this type of grain doesn’t turn into a porridge, the individual rye berries retain their integrity so you can just strain the grain when it’s cooked through, or fish it out with a slotted spoon.