Some of you know that I frequently eat polenta as a breakfast cereal during summer and early fall, cooking it in milk, stirring in a fresh peach or a handful of wild blackberries. Some of you know I have spent part of the summer flirting with a guitar player, wondering how much he liked me, being alternately elated and crushed as I went to play music at his house, attended band rehearsal, sang at a small festival in Santa Rosa, followed him up to another festival called Cur-Ville. You’ve seen me donning red dresses and trying to let go.
That phase has ended: the guitar player is mine now and, to prove it, spent the better part of the long weekend at my house. Mornings found us in the kitchen, brewing coffee, figuring out what to eat for breakfast. I cooked him eggs twice, scrambled with cheese and Gypsy peppers, served with sourdough toast. This morning I asked him what he ate for breakfast besides eggs. He mentioned a dish of polenta and various cheeses, topped with tomato and avocado.
We always have cornmeal, so I put on a pot of salted water to boil and put out the cheese collection for Johnny to look at while I measured out a cup of cornmeal. He selected Red Leicester, a cheddar, and chopped it into small pieces. I added some grated pecorino Romano. While the polenta was warm I added a chopped tomato. We tasted the polenta. He added a bit more cheese, I added a pinch of kosher salt and a healthy sprinkle of paprika and we had a beautiful golden breakfast, flecked with tomato red, Johnny’s gift to me and my gift to you.
After we ate, I did the dishes, dancing at the sink while Johnny sat in a green chair and played me Bruce Springsteen’s “Fire.” Occasionally, I turned around to look at him to sync my back-up vocals to his lead. Dishes have never been this much fun — who knew? All you need is a guitar-player in your kitchen to play songs for you while you wash and rinse. But you can’t have mine — he’s taken. Sorry.
If you want to make Johnny’s Polenta, measure water and cornmeal in a four-to-one ratio (I used four cups of water to one cup of cornmeal, but you could use one cup of water to a quarter cup if you want only one serving).
Add a bit of salt to the water — not too much, since you are going to be adding cheese later.
Boil polenta and water mixture until it has thickened to your liking. Remove from heat and stir in
Chopped and grated cheeses to taste : I used about 3 ounces of cheddar and 1 ounce of pecorino Romano.
Add one large chopped tomato.
Add 1/2 tsp of either sweet or hot paprika, depending on your proclivities: this adds wonderful color as well as a subtle flavor.
Taste and season as necessary. You will have to provide your own soundtrack for dish-washing.
Food Notes: You can make this with cornmeal or polenta, or even grits — whatever cereal-like corn product that you have hanging around. Lauren, if you are listening, you could swap some permitted vegetable for the contraband tomato and eliminate the cheddar, substituting some cheese you like, such as the cumin cheese we ate in France.
The Lauren Project: Thanks from Lauren and from me to all who sent recipes to the Lauren Project. Lauren is out in California, cooking up test batches of recipes. She and I will confer soon and announce the prize winners in an upcoming blog post. Before we complete the winners’ post we will contact our winner to ask what prize he or she desires. Then we will contact the second place finisher, third-place contestant, etc. until all prizes are awarded. Those of you who did not win will still be eligible for free shipping on any Kale Chronicles’ painting purchased by midnight December 31st, 2012.
That sounds delicious my friend, I love how versatile polenta and cornmeal are!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thank you, CCU — you are so right: you can do a lot with cornmeal.
Polenta: The Breakfast of Campioni!
This sounds like a great way to get the day started, Sharyn, and I’m happy to read that things are going so well between the two of you. I must say, his name has a real ring to it. 🙂
Thank you, John. Good breakfast, good man, good name.
I knew life was good ! Music while you wash up sounds perfect, as does wonderful company for breakfast.
Now onto Johnny’s polenta, I tried a cheesy, herby version recently, but where I gently fried it in blocks to crisp it up – it lacked ooomph and flavour. I need to look at your quantities and work on it. I haven’t had red leicester for ages, when it’s good it really is good !
And talking of cumin cheese, have you ever had Gouda flavoured with Cumin? damn it, it is GOOD !!
Yes, Claire. I love anything with cumin in it. The paprika and salt were essential in flavoring the polenta.
I am sooooo happy for you, Sharyn. Wishing you happiness always.
Thank you, Norma, for your warm wishes.
What a sweet story, it made me smile. I have never had polenta for breakfast, I rarely eat it but it sounds great!
Thank you. It is a sweet story, even with savory polenta.
I wish you could see the smile that spread across my face reading this post. I’m happy for you, Sharyn, in every way! How lovely that the two of you share music in common, and I can see that sharing the delights in the kitchen, even doing dishes, is a real gift. The recipe sounds fabulous, too. It sure does! Debra
Thank you, Debra. It’s pretty fun: we’re planning gigs and set lists, starting to work out arrangements. And we love each other.
Sharyn!! What a fabulous post filled with great food, great songs – and a love story hot off the presses – so lovely of you to share with us, and I am grinning from ear to ear after reading this. I must apologize that I failed to submit a recipe for the Lauren project in time – this jetlag has been very dominant on the way home and sleep must come somewhere around 9:30 at night (this is affecting my ability to stay connected as you can imagine), looking forward to hearing the results though 🙂
I am going to try Johnny’s polenta for sure…
xx
Thanks, Shira. Love is pretty wonderful (we just had an episode of parental interference). I’m going to leave the Lauren Project page up so that people can still submit recipes — you just won’t get prizes.
This sounds pretty tasty!
It’s good.
How nice to have found love in the fall, so exciting! And how convenient that you both like polenta for breakfast. Sadly I have not been able to spend time on a recipe for Lauren and with our trip to Europe fast approaching, I doubt I will have time now with so much to do before the trip.
Thanks, Eva. It’s lovely. It’s marvelous. I’m leaving the Lauren page up so people can send recipes for her at any time — you’ll just be out of the running for prizes this time around. I’m excited for you about your European trip — I know you’ll have a blast: save room in your luggage for the new shoes you will buy when you are abroad.
Hehehe, there is always room for new shoes! Thanks Sharyn.
WONDERFUL! Your post got me smiling more and more and more, anticipating the best news ever, that the guitar player is now yours!
Nothing beats loving and be loved in return… enjoy each moment, and I wish you countless great breakfasts together!
Thank you, Sally. You are right — nothing beats loving and being loved in return. Thanks for your good wishes.
Adding tomatoes and cheese really sounds delightful.
Thank you, BAM. I liked it — I might try it with dried tomatoes in the winter.
I always clean house to music. Dancing at the sink AND singing – all is good in the world. Sounds like a delightful meal 🙂
Johnny’s polenta for breakfast sounds wonderful…as does this happy news. Enjoy your time and your food together! Fall is a great time to be in love. 🙂
Thanks, Betsy — I think so, too, just as the nights are getting cold and you want company…
He loves polenta for breakfast too? Coincidence? I think not. Soul mates in song and taste? Most assuredly. Very happy for you… and I bet your mom loves him too. Greetings to Johnny and wishes of continued happiness. 🙂
Thank you, Granny. I never imagined I would get so lucky in this lifetime — I’m happier than I’ve ever been and it just gets better and better.
Lucky man, lucky you – new love, autumn, music and shared breakfast – this is the best recipe yet – I would cook this one up every day if I could find the ingredients! My heart glows for you Sharyn…
Thank you, John. It just gets better: yesterday we debuted a new song at a singing session and today we had waffles and bacon for breakfast with my Mom.
It is fantastic to share food with someone you’re intimate with. You’ve done it in the best possible way, by creating it together. This is a lovely paean to food and to love. Made me happy to read, and I am happy the guitar player is yours. X
Thank you, Susan. We are deliriously happy — neither of us can quite believe we found each other, but we did, at the right time in our lives.