My husband was smoking chicken thighs, to make pulled chicken for dinner and I was trying to come up with something to serve with it. I had no buns to make pulled chicken sandwhiches, no potatoes to make fries...and then it came to me...polenta fries!
Running with the idea, I cleaned out the fridge and found some shaved Parmesan, a small piece of soft goat cheese and about 3/4 cup of smoked tomato soup. The cheeses went into the polenta, and the soup was heated up and used as a dipping sauce.
Crunchy breadcrumbs on the outside and soft, creamy, cheesy polenta on the inside...Baking them also eliminated the need to deep fry, which is a healthier alternative, but it also allowed me to prepare them earlier in the day when I had the time. It then came down to popping them into the oven and heating the sauce.
The recipe also made enough for our lunch today...no complaints from either of us about that.
Start off by making a batch of polenta, spreading it into a plastic wrap lined 8" X 8" pan and allowing it to cool completely. This can be done earlier on in the day, or even the day before.
Follow the method in the link below to make the polenta. I used 1/2 cup of cornmeal : 1 1/2 cups of milk, and added in 1/3 cup of goat cheese and just under 1/4 cup of shaved Parmesan.
Basic Polenta Method
Turn the chilled polenta out onto a cutting board, unwrap it and cut it into 1" X 3" pieces.
Set up for breading the polenta: flour seasoned with salt, pepper and a pinch of cayenne; an egg beaten with 1/4 cup milk, seasoned with salt and pepper; breadcrumbs.
Coat the polenta fries on all sides with the seasoned flour, and shake off the excess before moving on to the egg wash.
Place the floured polenta into the egg wash, make sure all sides are coated and allow the excess to drip off.
Lastly, place the polenta into the breadcrumbs, turning and coating all sides, gently pressing the breadcrumbs to make sure they stick.
Place the breaded polenta onto a parchment lined baking sheet, and place in the fridge to chill for
at least 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to 400F.
Bake until the breadcrumbs are golden and crunchy, and the polenta is hot in the middle, about 20 minutes.
Serve immediately.
To serve the polenta fries, I stacked them on the plate, and poured the hot soup / dipping sauce into a ramekin. We had the pulled chicken, and a grape tomato and avocado salad with the fries, and it was a fun meal to eat, full of flavours and textures, and casual enough to eat while watching Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
- Polenta fries are usually breaded polenta sticks that are then deep fried. Baking them eliminates the need for all of that oil. The end result is not as crispy on the outside, but you still have a contrast of crunch and creaminess.
- Next time you are making a batch of polenta, make extra, chill it, cut it into fries and freeze them, well wrapped.
- Flavour can be added to the fries in any, or all of the steps: herbs, garlic, roasted red peppers, olives or cheeses added to the polenta itself; season the flour with cayenne pepper, garlic powder, lots of black pepper, seasoned salt; adding mustard or hot sauce to the milk; process the breadcrumbs with fresh or dried herbs, garlic, grated Parmesan or nuts.
- I used leftover smoked tomato soup as my dipping sauce. You can use any soup, hot sauce, pesto, mayonnaise based dip or salad dressing.
- Serve these as an appetizer or snack. They can be baked ahead of time and then popped into a 400F oven to reheat.
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