Gramsci's soft cheesy polenta
A spoon dish, not a sliceable one
Instant polenta is ready in 15 minutes. A fine but not instant grade takes nearer 35.
Doubles easily in a slightly larger pan, though it needs a little longer at the whisking stage to avoid lumps.
Polenta cooked this loose is closer to a savoury porridge than the firm, sliceable block most people picture, and it is exactly what you want on a day when chewing feels like more effort than it should. Use the fine or instant grade only, whisked into simmering milk and stock so it never has the chance to clump, then stirred until it turns glossy and falls in a slow ribbon off the spoon. Butter and Parmesan go in at the end, off the heat, so the cheese stays silky rather than turning stringy. Fifteen minutes, a single small pan, and a bowl with nothing left to chew.
From the chronicle · Turi, 1932
A Sardinian on the next sink in a Milan kitchen in 1971 had an uncle who had done four years on the same corridor at Turi, and the uncle talked about Gramsci the way men talk about a neighbour rather than a monument. A small man in a cell, writing in school exercise books in a hand that got smaller as the years went on, and sleeping badly. He was losing his teeth by then and wrote to say so, and a mouth that cannot chew, above a stomach that keeps very little down, will take polenta when it will take nothing else. The uncle said the trick was in the kitchen, not the cell. The fine grade, poured in a thread and whisked so it never clumped, never the coarse, and the cheese, when a parcel from his sister-in-law had any in it, stirred in after the pan came off the flame so it melted instead of pulling into strings. He ate it with a tin spoon from a tin bowl and went back to the exercise books. The uncle's own complaint about Turi, my colleague said, was that the polenta was better than at home.
The people, places and dates are real. The meal and the conversation are not. Read more about the chronicle.
Ingredients
Contains: Milk, Celery
- 200 mlwhole milk
- 200 mlclear vegetable stock, strained, or a good stock cubePreparation matters
Stock (chicken, beef, vegetable, dashi): Preparation matters
Why the preparation matters. Keep it clear and strained, with no vegetable pieces.
Sources: East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, Department of Nutrition & Dietetics
More about stock (chicken, beef, vegetable, dashi) - 60 gfine polenta, fine or instant grade only, not coarseHospitals differ
Fine or instant polenta: Hospitals differ
Why the preparation matters. Use the fine or instant grade only. Coarse or wholegrain cornmeal is off the list.
Where hospitals differ. The leaflet this book follows does not name polenta. Refined maize products are allowed by St George's and Leeds.
If your team says no. Use the same weight of fine semolina instead, cooked the same way.
Sources: St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
More about fine or instant polenta - 20 gunsalted butter
- 30 gParmesan, finely grated
- salt
Method
Bring the milk and stock to a gentle simmer together in a small, heavy-based pan.
Pour in the polenta in a thin, steady stream, whisking constantly so it does not clump.
Turn the heat down low and cook, stirring often with a wooden spoon, until it thickens to the consistency of loose porridge and falls in a slow ribbon off the spoon. Instant polenta gets there in 3 to 5 minutes. A fine but not instant grade needs 20 to 25, and a splash more milk along the way.
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the butter and most of the Parmesan, until glossy and smooth. Taste for salt.
Spoon into a warm bowl and scatter over the last of the Parmesan. Eat straight away with a spoon, before it sets.
Watch-points
- Use fine or instant polenta only. Coarse or wholegrain cornmeal is off the list.
- Use clear stock, strained, with no vegetable pieces in it.
Some hospitals allow fine or instant polenta; the leaflet this book follows does not name it at all. Leave it out if you have been told to.
Stoma note: Like rice, a starchy dish cooked this smooth tends to thicken stoma output.
Make it more nourishing
- Stir in an extra 15 g of butter once off the heat.
- Use 40 g of Parmesan instead of 30, or add a spoon of mascarpone at the end.
- Whisk a tablespoon of skimmed milk powder into the milk before it goes on the heat.
Swaps
- Instead of vegetable stock, use another 200 ml of whole milk
- a sweeter, nursery version, and one less thing to open
- Instead of Parmesan, use mature Cheddar
- melts just as well, a different but familiar flavour
The foods in this recipe
Each of these has a page of its own, with how to prepare it and where hospitals differ.