Jane made Polenta with Meat Sauce in the Gilmore Park Church Community Kitchen. I love to go to Jane’s kitchen as she has lots of stories and experiences to share especially about her marriage and her life experiences in Italy.
Polenta is made with corn meal. Corn meal comes in fine and coarse texture. You may use either according to your preference. The Polenta can be cooked on the stove which takes about half an hour or cooked using microwave in less than 15 minutes. Fine corn meal may takes less time.
Allocate about 1/4 cup of corn meal per person.
Ingredients
- Corn meal for the polenta
- Water, about 3 to 4 times of the amount of polenta used. For example, 3 cups of water for 1 cup of corn meal
Ingredients for meat sauce
- 1/2 lb ground beef
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
- 1/2 carrot, scrapped and finely grated
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 can crushed tomato
- salt and pepper to taste
- freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
 Measure boiling water in a microwave bowl or a pot. Add in the corn meal gradually and stir vigorously. You must mix it well to prevent lumps from forming. |
 The corn meal will thickened with the stirring. If you are cooking the corn meal on the stove top, constant stirring is recommended to prevent burning.If you are cooking the polenta using the microwave, cook it for 30 seconds and stir.
Return to microwave and microwave for another minute. |
 After 1 minute, the corn meal will thicken. But it’s not cook yet. Return the corn meal to the microwave, cover the bowl with a paper towel and cook for another 5 minutes.Let rest while you prepare the meat sauce as the polenta will continue to cook. |
 Place the polenta onto a plate to serve. |
 Brown the lean ground beef in a pan. |
 Add the vegetables and cook until the onion is blonde. |
 Add the crush tomatoes and let simmer until the vegetables melts into the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. |
| Serve the meat sauce with the polenta and top with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese. |
 Jane also shared with us a powerful pot cleaning ingredient in our kitchen. It is baking soda. Other than baking and refreshing the refrigerator, baking soda is also good as a cleaning agent. |
 Pots usually get stained when cooking sauces. A good way to get rid of the stain is to make a paste of baking soda with a little water and scrub the stained pot with the paste. |
 Look how shiny the pot is after cleaning with baking soda.Jane also shared with us that equal portion of baking soda and salt makes a good fire extinguisher. So, always have some ready in your kitchen for emergency use.
Jane, thank you so much for sharing your Italian experiences and also kitchen tips. |
Not only does this look fantastic, but YAY to see some NoName products in other foodie’s kitchens – I’m an addict lol. I will definitely try out a veggie version of this!
I have never had polenta before, but have been wanting to try it!
Wow! This was great, you inspired me to try polenta. I just made this for dinner tonight, doubled the recipe. I am looking forward to having leftovers tomorrow. I fed this to my 11 month old and he inhaled it, meat sauce and all!
That looks tasty!
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