Thyme & garlic herbed mushrooms on baked rosemary ricotta polenta chips – brown, crisp edges and gooey centre. Finished with a poached egg & parmesan.  Jump to Recipe 

The autumn-to-winter seasonal viruses have hit. Snuffly noses and coughs are everywhere. It must be that initial cold snap – our immune systems freak, not used to the chill and damp and increased volume of infective organisms in the air. Whatever the reason, it is going around. I’m just getting over my personal infection – grown at home over Easter (maybe incubated on that plane trip, who knows) and taken hold with jetlag and lack of sleep, leaving me with that scratchy throat, stuffy nose, watery eyes feeling. Gross. But thanks to that virus, I haven’t been up to much lately and this post will be short. My bed is calling, with its cozy fluffed up duvet and multiple pillows. In the meantime, whether you have cold like me, or are enduring cold Melbourne days, or even a colder spring day in the Northern Hemisphere – you need to try this polenta.

I can’t believe it has taken me 19 years to appreciate polenta. Actually, make that 19 years to have TRIED polenta. We didn’t use it at home, it seems relatively underrepresented on cafe and restaurant menus, and I guess I just passed it off as a mushy, porridge-like substance not worthy of further investigation. In the last few months, polenta chips started appearing everywhere (or maybe I only just started noticing them, I don’t know). Ottolenghi even included a recipe in Nopi – and surely the ultimate springboard into fame for any maligned vegetable or food product is to be featured in one of his cookbooks. 

On its own, polenta is plain. But flavoured with garlic and rosemary, lightened with ricotta and a touch of parmesan, and baked up with brown, crunchy edges and a gooey centre? You won’t look back, and you might find regular potato chips fall by the wayside. The ways you can used them is countless – to dip in tomato soup like Nora, on the side of any meal, as a substitute for potato with fish and chips, with eggs – whatever you like.

This must be my favourite, though. Those crispy, light, slightly cheesy and garlicky chips from before? Paired with unami-rich mushrooms, sautéed over a hot flame for brown, caramelized patches, flavour intensified by fresh thyme leaves, garlic and butter, they reach a new level. Watercress for a sharp peppery contrast and vibrant green hue, and a gooey poached egg to finish it off, the viscous orange yolk tracking down through the mushrooms. A sprinkle of parmesan and a liberal grind of salt and pepper at the table.

P.S. The secret to those perfect poachies? White vinegar. Not salt, or egg rings or cracking it into a cup first or swirling the water or special pans or gladwrap or whatever other tricks are out there. Simply –

• Use a tall pot (so the egg has some depth to fall through and form a ball, rather than going splat on the bottom of a shallow pan). Mine has an 18cm diameter and is about 12cm deep).
• Add a decent splash of white vinegar (I probably use about 1/4 cup, but it depends how big your pot is)
• Bring the water to a gentle rolling boil. A hard boil will destroy your gentle egg whites, while if it isn’t at the boil the egg white won’t cook quickly enough. Just enough so bubbles roll on the bottom of the pot, ready to buoy your egg on the bottom.
• Crack your eggs into the pot gently, close to the surface of the water.
• I like my eggs somewhere between 2 minutes and 2:20. During this time, keep a close eye on your pot so it doesn’t reach a hard boil, froth up, and obliterate your perfect egg white.
• Lift your eggs out with a slotted spoon or spatula. Done!

What is your favourite way to use polenta? I have a bag sitting the cupboard now and need more ideas!

The post Herbed Mushrooms on Baked Rosemary Ricotta Polenta Chips appeared first on The Brick Kitchen.