On Sundays, we like to have rather more special dinners than those we eat on other days. Perhaps something like risotto or homemade pizza, two of our favorite dishes. The dinners don’t have to be fancy, just something that we think is nice. This past Sunday, as we were thinking about what to have for dinner, and what we have in the house, we wondered, can you make polenta from fresh corn?
Yes! Absolutely yes, and it’s easier than making polenta using dried polenta. We did a check on the Internet and looked at two recipes, both of which were based on a recipe by a famous chef (we won’t say who), which had an obvious problem. They started by cutting the kernels of corn off the cob, then scraping the cob to get the milky, starchy, flavorful liquid, cooking both in water, then, wait for it, draining the cooked kernels. Does that make sense? All that flavor is going down the drain. Why would anyone do that?
So, we made our own version that doesn’t drain off flavor. Instead, it celebrates the flavor of sweet, fresh corn.
Fresh Corn Polenta
Ingredients
- 4 ears corn
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt or to taste
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper or to taste
- 2 Tbs unsalted butter
Instructions
- Cut kernels from corn cobs and transfer to a large saucepan, along with any corn liquid that can be scraped from the cobs.
- Add 1/2 cup water (it should be about half the depth of the kernels), and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook and steam for 7 minutes.
- Transfer corn to a food processor and pulse/process until it looks like cooked corn meal. Return to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring very often, until desired thickness, about 10-15 minutes.
- Stir in salt, pepper, and butter. Adjust seasoning to taste.
Ingredient discussion:
The only thing we can say about these ingredients is that, for fresh corn polenta, you need fresh corn. We can also say that, if you’re not sure what to serve along with the polenta, we made up a quick, slightly spicy, tomato and caper sauce for ours, and thought it worked well. In the past, we’ve also had polenta with mushroom sauce, or for a side dish, plain.
Procedure in detail:
Cut corn kernels. There’s no way to do this easily. Sure, we’ve read about people who hold the ear this way or that. People who use a Bundt pan to help hold the ear and catch the kernels, but we’re convinced that the best and easiest way is to lay the corn flat on a cutting board and simply slice off the kernels, rotating the ear between slices. However you do it, cut off the kernels and place them in a large saucepan. You should have about an inch of kernels. If you wish, feel free to scrap more corn juice from the ears by running the back of a knife down the cobs. It may get some, but it’s never much. Save the cobs, though, as they’re great for making stock.
Steam. Add about 1/2 cup water to the corn kernels. You want about 1/2 inch of water in the pan, with an inch of corn. Place the pan over high heat and bring to a full boil. Cover, reduce the heat to medium — you want to generate a lot of steam — and cook the corn for about 7 minutes. Feel free to stir the corn once or twice, although we don’t think it’s necessary.
Grind. Transfer all the corn and what little liquid remains to the bowl of a food processor and pulse/run the machine until you have ground corn. You don’t want it smooth, nor do you want it chunky; you want it to look like you cooked up some coarse corn meal.
Cook. Transfer the corn back to the saucepan, place over low heat, and cook, stirring, until the corn is thick, about 15-20 minutes. It’s a judgement call on how thick the polenta should be, and it partially depends on how you’re using it, but we like ours about as thick as mashed potatoes, and we don’t want any puddling of liquid.
Season. The seasoning for polenta can be as simple or as complex as you want. We went simple — just stirred in butter, salt, and pepper, but it would be good with cheese stirred in, too. You’re eating it, so you decide.
This is good, full of sweet corn flavor, yet it still has the texture of polenta (which we love, by the way). We served ours with a simple tomato sauce, a sprinkle of cheese, and a couple of slices of bread on the side, and it made for a nice meal. We’ll definitely be making fresh corm polenta again, as it’s so easy. Four sweet stars.
