I always have a least two of these in my pantry at all times. I use to be a bit snobbish about pre cooked polenta and only made meals with freshly made Polenta at home, but these little tubes have opened up a whole new world for me, and I love love love them now!
Other then being fast and easy, they make for new dishes, which I love. The best use for them so far while here in Maui, is grilling them! Yes. Grilling. Them.
Sliced, brushed lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper, and slapped on the grill is fast and easy. Cutting them into half inch to an inch round makes them sturdy enough to handle the grilling and the smokey flavor adds a lovely dimension to them. I have served them under fried eggs for breakfast, under my Garlic Cilantro Black Beans, and soon, I will be making them into a make shift sandwich or stack, with grilled tomatoes, fried eggs and cheese. Doesn’t that sound heavenly?
More then anything its the structure of the pre-cooked Polenta that lends itself to imaginative uses. I am having a lot of fun with it, and its now a must have in the pantry.
Do you find these polenta tubes in your local supermarket or specialty stores? I'd like to try it!
In Southern California, I find them in all grocery stores. Here in Maui, its much harder and I have only found it in Whole Foods, or another market here called Lahaina Farms. I think it would depend on your location. Where are you?
I love these too, they are so easy to work with…It sounds like you made up with your grill:)
🙂 We are working our way towards an understanding! 🙂 I will likely try the grill again this week. Will report on our budding relationship then!
How funny, I'm a bit of a food snob when it comes to polenta, but my first experience of it was pre-bought stuff. It is awesome grilled, however… and fried. These days I prefer to make mine own fresh and then let it cool, but maybe I'll be a little less snobbish next time and buy it from the store instead!
Jax x
Jackie, I felt the same way, but then discovered it could be used for a whole other variety of dishes. Its about the architecture of a dish. I definitely still make fresh polenta, as nothing beats its creaminess, especially when you add ricotta cheese to the polenta while its cooking!
I love these tubes, I found them by accident and now I buy them when I am in a pinch
sweetlife
Funny. I am still snobbish about them. Polenta is such a staple of Romanian cooking which I grew up with that cooking it makes me happy! But it looks easy…and sometimes easy is great.
The premade polenta is such a handy thing to have in your pantry! I love the idea of having it for breakfast… something I would not have really given much thought to but makes perfect sense!
Oh I love polenta for breakfast! Definitely try it and let me know what you make!
I agree that fresh is best, but sometimes there's not time and if the polenta is used as a base for other things and the flavor will be covered, why not. I think it's a great idea to keep the tube on hand.
I have to find some of these. I've never eaten polenta but I will try to find some at our local store. Thanks for the great idea. I get tired of the same thing over and over, so this will be a refreshing change.
Grilled polenta sounds delicious–it's something I haven't tried. Thanks for the good idea.
I always make polenta from scratch in the winter months, but love the premade polenta for grilling also. I make them as appetizers and I find that the children like them too.
Thanks for sharing,
Polenta is one of those corny options that I've just begun experimenting with … thanks for the ideas, Elena. I have been making my own from Bob's Red Mill coarse grind polenta, but these tubes look intriguing …
I have some polents that i need to try out… any tips? PLEASE?
I love to slice them and grill then. So you get these yummy smoking rounds with a tinge of crisp on the outside. Then you can do so much… pour beans over them… serve with a perfectly fried egg and then top with pesto… use them as a base for gourmet ours d'ouvres and top with tapanades and cheese. The possibilities are endless!
Hi – I'm a new polenta user…I only found the "tube" in my grocery store, nothing to make "fresh" with. Is there any way to "cream out" this pre-cooked polenta? Or, will it be ruined? Thanks!
I have a recipe that calls for instant polenta that is to be mixed with water and boiled in the microwave for 10 minutes. I was envisioning a box of grainy-like things, but all I could find in two groceriy stores was the tube. Can I mash this up and use it in the same way? Does anyone know what the proportion of water to pre-cooked polenta would be. The recipe calls for spreading it on top of tomale pie before putting it into a slow cooker for 4 hours.
Where do you. Buy it from???
Most grocery stores carry it in the Italian/pasta section.
I made mine with stew and found ours in the organic vegetable section….yummy!