Polenta Appetizer with Seasoned Ground Beef

Earlier this morning I was thinking of making a new dish like always. Lately polenta has been on my mind. I started to look through my cupboards and found, instant masa harina. I  didn't have any regular corn meal  so  I thought I would try to make it anyway. I have a basic recipe that you can adjust to make it your own. I added some crushed red pepper, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and Parmesan shredded cheese. This masa is what the tamales are made out of and to me its creamier and is lighter in color. The corn meal is more coarse and yellow.. After I added my seasoning it looked like a very pale sage green. It really wasn't even as dark as I thought, after it cooled.
 I served this like an appetizer or you could plate it as a meal. After I sliced it, I heated it up and placed it on top of a bed of lettuce.Then I topped it with my seasoned ground beef and sprinkle of shredded cheese. Some serving suggestions are place a dollop of sour cream on top or on the side and side of salsa. Instead of ground beef over the top some suggestions would be, sauteed mushrooms & onions, seasoned shredded chicken or pork, Italian sausage sliced with bell peppers and onions, sun dried roasted tomatoes.
The list goes on.
You just have to experiment with it and make it yours.

Polenta Appetizer with Seasoned Ground Beef

Ingredients:

6 cups water
2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 cups instant masa harina (or corn meal)
4 tsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 crushed red peppers flakes
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Olive Oil

Place water in large saucepan. Then add butter, salt, garlic powder, red pepper, and Italian seasoning. Bring to boil then gradually add the masa harina (corn meal) whisking constantly. Then place on low to cook until masa thickens. Stir often, it could take about 5-10 minutes depending on what masa your using. When cooked turn off the heat and add cheese and a dash of olive oil and stir. Let sit to cool. After it has cooled down I place 3 scoops of the masa in the middle of a piece of saran wrap. Then I wrap it and twist the ends in a circular motion to tighten the wrap. That forms the chub like setting. This recipe will make about three chubs. Then refrigerate for 1 hour till the masa is firm.

For Serving I have made some suggestions above. For a dinner plate I would plate it like the appetizer but place more of the ingredients on the dish. Using 6 -8 slices of the polenta over the lettuce. On the appetizer I used 3 slices of the polenta(the slices were around 2 inches). You can make more than one meal out of this recipe. Place polenta in a pie dish or layer it in a casserole dish like lasagna. There are just so many ideas. As long as you keep this in the refrigerator it should last at least 3 days.

Remember have fun and make it yours.


And that's the "DISH" for today!