What You Perhaps Didn't Know about Polenta

While nearly always delicious and rich in Italian restaurants, polenta can often disappoint in home kitchens. The only tricks you need to know  involve discarding the plethora of cookbook recipes instructing one to use water as the base and encouraging under-seasoning re: salt. The Cafe Drake version below is a general "base" recipe - add to it any additions your vivid imagination can conjure . . . sauteed mushrooms, good and aged provolone cheese, roasted red peppers, balsamic glazed and baked onions etc etc.

CAFE DRAKE'S BASIC POLENTA (to be embellished at will)

3 cups whole milk / 1 cup water / 1 cup cornmeal / 2 T. butter / at LEAST 1-2 T. salt / 1 t. crushed red pepper / 1 T. chopped rosemary leaves (less if using dried) / black pepper to taste

1. Bring milk to boil in a large saucepan. While the milk is heating up, mix the water and cornmeal together in a bowl to make a paste.
2. When the milk has just almost boiled, whisk in the cornmeal mixture. Now stir in with a wooden spoon the remaining ingredients.
3. Reduce the heat to a very low flame and stir very often for 15-20 minutes. Be careful not to burn as the polenta sticks easily to the pan's bottom.
4. Serve hot, readjusting seasonings as required, and doctor up as you wish.