A note on ricers: For a young boy, a potato ricer is akin to magic. It’s more impressive than planes or satellites; it’s up there with fire trucks, guns, and large breasts. We use ricers a lot at Joe Beef—for potatoes, Madeira jelly for foie gras, fruit preserves, and polenta. One day, a hungover vegetable cook produced a plate of clumpy, amateur polenta. It was on the menu, so we couldn’t send out carrots and apologies. Instead, we just pressed it through the ricer. It came out freaking perfect, the clumps gone and the polenta shaped like rice, slowly falling in the butter. There we were, four grown-ups, as fascinated as ever with the potato ricer. The general rule for polenta is four parts water to one part cornmeal.
Recipe information
Yield
Serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Bring the water to a boil over high heat and add a pinch of salt. Take the pot off the burner and whisk in the cornmeal in an even stream. Put the pot back on the burner, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, for about 30 minutes, or until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan and no longer tastes grainy. You would rather overcook polenta than undercook it.
Step 2
Mix in 2 tablespoons of the butter and half of the Parmesan, correct the seasoning with salt, and pass the polenta through a ricer. Then cover with plastic wrap to keep it warm, and set aside.
Step 3
In a small pan, melt the remaining butter, a turn of pepper, the bay leaves, and the garlic over high heat. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the butter bubbles and smells delicious.
Step 4
Remove the butter from the heat and drizzle it along with the bay leaves and garlic over the polenta. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and serve right away.
