Cheesy Baked Polenta

Polenta is another fine comfort food for me. It's kind of peasant food, simple grains, fine cornmeal boiled into a gelatanous mush. Sound appetizing? It can be baked, grilled, fried or served plain, and it goes with a plethora of other ingredients quite easily. It's known as grits in the States, or mael pep in the Carribean, or many other names in Eastern Europe, but no matter how you serve it, it's still good ole comfort food.

In this case, I used instant polenta, as it's the only I've been able to find from even the bigger of the chain stores in Helsinki. It's quite fine, so it works better as the molded and baked or fried variety than the porridge type variety. It's so quick and easy to make!

I first prepared the polenta, with about 2:1 water:polenta ratio, but each variety may call for different cooking times and water ratios. Instead of plain water, I used vegetable stock, and before the gelatanous polenta could harden, I mixed in about 3/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

Then, I spread the polenta thinly on a baking sheet, smoothing evenly with the back of a spoon, wetting the spoon if necessary to avoid sticking. The polenta should be about 1/2" to 1" thick. Let this cool, and put it in the refrigerator if there is room enough. Once chilled, it can be easily sliced into triangles or sticks for whatever you plan to do with it next.

For this, I used four cheeses to make a nice and rich dish. In a casserole dish, I layered a row of polenta slices first, topping with blue cheese, Koskenlaskija cheese (perinteinen versionn of the Finnish favorite), grated mozzerella and repeating a second layer, then topping the whole dish with about 1/2 cup of grated parmesan. I then baked at 175C for 3o minutes. The baked dish should cool a little, but then slices easily to make a simple but pleasant presentation.

Sorry in this case there are no exact measurements, as polentas vary from type and brand, and many different kinds of cheeses are suitable! I would also recommend using mascarpone instead of Koskenlaskija if you don't have any of that available. Crumbled feta might also give a nice salty flavor to add.

Buon Appetito!

Creamy Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Comfort food at its finest. Broccoli soup is easy to make and satisfies a craving for warm, creamy and cheesy, without being high in fat.

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 tbs butter
• 1/4 cup of flour
• 1 heads of broccoli chopped + the leftover stems of another head
• 1,5 dl cream
• 1 carrot diced
• 7,5 dl of vegetable broth, or 2 vegetable bullion cubes and 7,5dl (3 cups) of water
• a pinch of nutmeg (optional, but I think this really makes a difference)
• salt and pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 3,5 dl (2 1/2 cup) shredded cheddar or mild cheese

1. Start making the roux, by melting the butter in a pot or dutch oven and adding the onion. Allow onion to yellow and become translucent, stirring constantly for 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle the flour and continue to stir until the flour has become golden in color.
2. Gradually whisk in the cream until thick and incorporated. Add the broth, nutmeg, salt and pepper and bay leaf and bring to a boil.
3. Add broccoli and carrot and continue simmering for about 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
4. Remove bay leaf and blend with an immersion blender, or transfer soup into a blender and pulse briefly, leaving small chunks.
5. Add cheese and whisk over medium heat until melted.
6. Garnish with grated cheese and serve hot, in a bread bowl if you like. (this soup is very good with a sour-dough bread bowl)

I didn't have time for the bread bowl, but I wanted to use my fresh broccoli. It's still snowing outside my window and this was the perfect thing to warm me up. This really rivals Panera Bread's version, even better I think. Which is especially nice if you're living somewhere without Panera!

Herbed French Vegetable Stew

This stew was inspired by a lot vegetables that I just had on hand and was very simple to put together in a big dutch oven. Letting it stew for several hours gave the apartment a nice warm aroma and tasting it gave me a nice warm comfy feeling inside..... mmm... I could just sit and watch the snowfall and watch a good movie while eating this stew.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 carrots
3 stalks of celery
2-3 large waxy potatoes
1 large onion
1 can of green beans, or about 2 cups of frozen french cut green beans
2 cloves garlic
2 cubes vegetable bullion or 3-4 cups of vegetable broth
herbs de province
1 tbs tomatoe paste
parmesan cheese (optional)
3 tbs pesto rosso (optional)
olive oil
salt and pepper

I first diced the onion, celery and garlic, and sauteed them in about 2 tbs olive oil until the onions were transparents and the herbs were fragrant.
Then, I julliened the potatoes and carrots. I added these and the vegetable bullion cubes, plus 4 cups of water to the dutch oven and brought this to a slow simmer.
I then added the tomato paste, pesto, and salt and peper, gave it a stir, and continued to let simmer for 2 hours. By then, the vegetables had soaked up much of the broth, and rather than be soup-like, it was a delicious hearty winter stew.
Bon Apetit!