Served hot, these tasty treats are fragrant and crispy on the outside but soft and yielding on the inside with little charred bits of browned garlicky goodness and a salty/vinegary bite of anchovies and capers that is just sooo good. If you add some crushed red pepper to the anchovy/caper/garlic paste and a squeeze of lemon just before serving then we are talking food Nirvana. Best eaten hot with your fingers (well, don't actually eat your fingers but you know what I mean), anyway, they’re best eaten hot while standing over the stove, but if you must sit down, then I suggest finding a nice quiet place where no one will find you and the coat sleeves won't irritate the back of your head and dig in! I have crossed over to the other side, I am no longer sitting on the fence, this dish has made me a true convert...I LOVE POLENTA!
The Little Girl and I were out walking the other day, and since our walk was taking us past my beloved Kalustyan's I just had to stop in. I'm always in need of something or another from that wonderful store and this time it was dried chickpeas and some good thick yogurt. Whenever I'm in that place I just can't seem to simply run in, buy what I need and leave, I have to browse. For the amount of stuff they manage to pack into that place the store is actually small and the aisles are very narrow with some places being very hard to maneuver with the Baby Björn strapped to my chest, the grocery basket in my hand and my backpack (which is currently doubling as a diaper bag) on my arm, but somehow I managed, and that’s how I came across a bag of smoked Italian polenta. Okay, so polenta is basically cornmeal, and cornmeal I have plenty of at home, but none of it is smoked cornmeal, so I just had to try this. What I was going to do with it I didn’t know, because as I may have mentioned here before I am not (or rather was not) a big fan of polenta, but perhaps a sudden irresistible need for cornbread or some other thing would give me a reason to try it. The next day, my latest EBAY acquisition arrived in the mail, a book by the celebrity chef Mario Batali. I've been watching his Molto Mario show on the Food Network quite a bit recently and I've decided that I like what he cooks and what he has to say about food and cooking. I had dinner at Esca once when it first opened, and while I enjoyed the food, the dining experience was not so great, but that’s another story for another day. Anyway, I started flipping through Simple Italian Food and when I came across the recipe for Hot Polenta Sandwiches. I knew this was it, the reason to use the smoked polenta, YAY!
Just a couple of quick notes about the recipe:
While I could smell the smokey flavor when I opened the bag of polenta I couldn't tell if it made any real difference in the final product. I used a large pinch of crushed red pepper flakes in the anchovy/capers mixture and it was a good choice, adding a little heat to the filling without making it too unbearably spicy. Next time I'd use more garlic and more anchovies. Instead of olive oil I used some really lovely grapeseed oil infused with herbs that my friend Henry gave to me after a recent trip to California, it was fragrant and fruity and the herbs added a nice dimension to the polenta dish. The grapeseed oil worked really well for brushing onto the baking sheet but I did go ahead and used the suggested olive oil for the frying part of the recipe. Speaking of olive oil, I didn't want to deep fry and so I didn't use anywhere near as much oil as Mario instructed, instead I used about half that amount over a medium flame and it was just fine. I drained the polenta on papers towels to blot out any excess oil and with the leftover scraps of polenta I had after cutting I dipped and fried those too, they weren't as salty/garlicky as the sandwiches but it was still pretty tasty.
Adapted from Simple Italian Food by Mario Batali
serves 4
"These groovy hot antipasti can be made up to four hours in advance and then reheated in a hot oven for five minutes just before serving. They are generally served during the apertivo phase as an appetite teaser rather than at the table as an antipasto. "
Brush a large baking sheet with vegetable oil and set aside.
In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil and add the salt. Whisking vigorously, slowly add the polenta in a thin stream and cook until quite thick, about 1 minute, switching to a wooden spoon to stir as the polenta thickens. Pour the polenta onto the baking sheet and spread with a spatula to a 1/8-to1/4-inch thickness, covering the sheet. Allow to cool 1 hour.
In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until light brown. Add the anchovies and capers and stir until broken up into paste. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Place the flour on a plate. Break the eggs in a shallow bowl and beat gently with a fork.
Pour 3 inches of olive oil into a deep pot and heat to 360 degrees F.
While the oil is heating, cut the cooled polenta into 2-inch rounds using a glass or cookie cutter; you will have about 24 pieces. Place 1/2 teaspoon of anchovy mixture on the smooth side of a polenta disk and create a sandwich by covering with a second polenta disk, smooth side in. Press together. Dredge the sandwiches in flour, then egg, and deep-fry 4 or 5 at a time until golden brown, about 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Serve hot.
Written by Deb on April 21, 2004 03:02 AMA MurrayHill 5 Creation ©2002-06 The contents of this website and all images are © D. Byer unless indicated otherwise. All rights reserved. Please do not use images and/or content without permission and credit to this site. For more information contact: mh5deb(at)gmail(dot)com