Sweet Corn Polenta

Two things about this recipe:

1) It's delicious. Fresh corn polenta is a world away from the cooking process and flavour of instant polenta. I am very glad to know that now, and will definitely be making it again in the future.

2) This was the messiest recipe I've made out of Plenty to date. I am fairly sure there has to be a better way of getting the kernels off the corn without them skittering all over my cutting board, but if there is, I didn't figure it out last night. That said, I have been wondering about making the polenta again using frozen corn kernels, on the logic that most frozen vegetables have been picked at peak ripeness and then flash-frozen, so they retain their optimal flavour... if I could get away with using frozen corn for this, it would cut the prep time and effort immensely. That will probably be my next experiment...

I very much recommend making the eggplant sauce that goes along - it's very tasty. And don't cut out the feta from the polenta - you hardly taste it, but it adds a nice textural contrast.

As usual, the ingredients are directly from the book and the written description includes my alterations and observations.

Sweet Corn Polenta
(p. 266, Plenty)

Serves 4

Eggplant Sauce
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 medium eggplant, cut into 3/4-inch dice
2 tsp tomato paste
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup chopped peeled tomatoes (fresh or canned)
6 1/2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tbsp chopped oregano

Polenta
6 ears of corn
2 1/4 cups of water
3 tbsp butter, diced
7 oz feta, crumbled
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper

To begin making the eggplant sauce, heat the oil on medium in a large pan and fry the eggplant until nicely browned, about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally so that it doesn't stick to your pan and most of the sides take on come colour.

Once the eggplant has been browned, drain off as much of the remaining oil as possible. Initially, I thought I could just short the oil measure to avoid having to throw the excess away, but it didn't work and I ended up having to add the remainder to the pan to get things frying nicely. Once everything was browned, I scooped it into a colander and let it drain for a minute or two before returning the eggplant to the pan. Add the tomato paste to the pan, stir it into the eggplant and let everything cook for 2 minutes. Add the wine, stir it into the eggplant and let it cook for another minute. Then add the chopped tomatoes, water (it works out to ~1/3 cup water), salt, sugar, and oregano, stir everything together and let it cook for another five minutes.  The sauce is now finished. You can set it aside while you make the polenta and reheat it a bit before serving.

To make the polenta, you'll need to remove the husks and the silk from each of the ears of corn. I would then recommend cutting a bit off of the narrow, pointy top of each ear of corn so you have a flat base to rest the corn on. From there, stand each ear upright on the flat surface you just made and use a sharp knife to cut straight down the side of the corn in a line, shaving off the kernals.

 Be warned, they will probably skitter a bit as they come free. Rotate the ear of corn and shave down again, and continue doing this until all of the corn kernels have been removed from the ear. You want to end up with roughly 1 1/4 lbs of kernels, and corn cobs that look like this:

I was really tempted to roll one in acrylic paint and see what kind of pattern it would leave on paper...

Once you have cut all of the kernels free, place them in a large saucepan and cover them with the water.

Cook for 12 minutes on a low simmer. From there Yotam suggests removing the cooked kernels with a slotted spoon and placing them into a food processor - you want to reserve the cooking liquid. I found it easier to set a strainer over a large bowl and pour the contents of the pot through it. The strainer caught the corn and the bowl reserved the liquid. It just seemed simpler.

Process the cooked corn in the food processor for a few minutes - you want the kernel casings as mashed up as possible. If the corn mixture gets too dry to blend, add a bit of the reserved cooking liquid to loosen it up and continue to process until you get a smooth consistency.

Once the corn has been sufficiently mashed, return it to the pot you had cooked it in and cook on low heat, stirring frequently, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the mixture thickens to something resembling mashed potatoes. Fold in the diced butter, the crumbled feta, the salt, and some pepper and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Taste and add more salt if needed.

To serve, divide the polenta between shallow bowls and spoon some of the warmed eggplant sauce into the centre. Then enjoy!