Parmesan Polenta with Spinach

I had never made polenta from scratch before. Turns out I have no idea what I was waiting for- it is cheap, pretty quick, and simple. I mixed freshly grated parmesan, salt and fresh ground pepper, and a little extra butter into the mixture, but otherwise just stuck to the directions on the package.

I served it topped with a little bit of cooked spinach and onions, and had a healthy, flavorful lunch.

A few simple ingredients: corn meal (polenta/grits) butter, salt, and parmesan cheese. Also water, but I didn't photograph that part.

Have you made polenta before? All you have to do is combine coarsely ground corn meal (polenta) with salted water, and cook over steady heat while stirring until it becomes thick. After stirring in butter, grated cheese (if you wish), tranfer the mixture into an oiled shallow bowl and let it cool.

After some time to set, invert the bowl onto a plate to reveal your formed (firm) polenta.

I then decided to cut it into cubes, and pan fry them for a little crunch and browned edges.

As I mentioned above I served this with my basic go to vegetable side- wilted spinach. I simply cooked some onion and garlic in olive oil, added in the spinach until it had just wilted, and seasoned with salt, black pepper, red chili pepper flakes, and an additional sprinkle of shaved parmesan.

I can already tell this will become a go to lunch for me- I even took the leftovers in to work the next day and ate it again. Next up I will have to play around with making creamy polenta. Maybe shrimp and grits? I can't wait.