Polenta Feastette

What could be more Christmas appropriate than polenta? Lots of things, you say? I decided that an Italian feastestte (my Mom’s famous phrase) of polenta with tons of toppings would be a perfect Christmas dinner for Julia's Mom and our siblings (except for Jacob to whom we all wished a Happy Birthday). I served the polenta buffet-style with opening bites of Caprese salad skewers and pizza bombs. The skewers were just four mini mozzarella balls, four grape tomatoes and 3 basil leaves with salt and pepper. Simple, classic and always tasty. The pizza bombs came from a recipe – a bad recipe – and though they tasted good were a pain/mess to make and did not come out right. I'll spare you the details since I wouldn't recommend them.

The real winner was the polenta itself. Instead of the painstaking traditional way to make polenta, I used a far easier no-stir, no-stick way – in my slow cooker. I got up around 9:30 in the morning and added 3 cups of medium ground cornmeal into my slow cooker and then added more than ten cups of cold water. I probably would have put eleven or twelve cups but I reached my cooker's capacity and needed room to stir and add a couple more ingredients like three teaspoons of salt and three tablespoons of canola oil. I stirred this whole mixture with a whisk until everything was well incorporated, put on the lid and turned the cooker on low. I was estimating it would be done within six hours but was going to eyeball it. I wanted soft yet thick polenta. From there I gave it a stir with the whisk every hour or so to keep everything incorporated and checking on the consistency. It thickened beautifully and with about an hour left added a few tablespoons of Smart Balance (or butter) and a little more salt since I tasted it and it needed a little more. It seemed just about done around five and a half hours and I switched the cooker to warm to keep it warm yet firm it ever so slightly.

When all my toppings, which I had been whipping together in the final hour or so, were ready, we poured the whole vat of polenta onto our huge platter and garnished with some grilled store-bought hard polenta slices (for fun mostly) and served it buffet-style.

Oh and what were these elusive polenta toppings?

Cold: Cherry tomatoes halves, Roma tomato slices, Radish slices, Kalamata olives without pits, Roasted red pepper slices, Sundried tomatoes, Medium Salsa, Fontina cheese, Reggiano Parmesano cheese, Ricotta cheese, Chives

Warm: Marinara sauce, Red pepper alfredo sauce, Red onion sautéed slices, Grilled Haloumi cheese, Grilled baby zucchini, Grilled patty-pan squashes, Sautéed baby Portobello mushrooms, Crispy diced bacon, Grilled asparagus tips, Seared chicken thighs, Olive oil roasted garlic

Everyone came up for firsts, seconds and as much as they wanted – it made a lot of polenta, and the toppings were aplenty. Everyone got to customize their meal to their tastes, habits and hankerings. It was awesome and I loved it almost as much as our guests loved it.

Don’t let this meal sound elusive to you – with a little coordination it was actually one of the easier party meals I’ve ever pulled off.