polenta
/pəˈlɛntə
/noun [mass noun]
1Maize flour as used in Italian cooking; cornmeal: maize is used, more coarsely ground, in Italy’s versatile polenta...
- Many of these have their own specific names, such as frumenty, made from wheat; tsampa, made from barley; polenta, made from maize; congee, from rice.
- This local ingredient even found its way as far as Europe in the form of Italian polenta.
- While you can certainly choose to buy Italian polenta at a specialty store, you can use any finely ground cornmeal - and stone-ground, organic cornmeal is a good choice.
1.1A paste or dough made from polenta, which is boiled and typically then fried or baked: roasted pork accompanied by grilled polenta...
- Toss on a little salt after roasting and add to pasta, polenta, pizza and omelets.
- T shivered theatrically and chose risotto with asparagus, clams and octopus carpaccio to start, followed by rump steak and polenta.
- Grilled polenta with sautéed wild mushrooms in a spicy artichoke ragoût is better.
Origin
Late 16th century: Italian, from Latin, 'pearl barley' (a sense of polenta in Old English).