Recipe: Crispy Polenta Cakes

Crispy Polenta Cakes

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• crisp :

  to cook food until it becomes dry and firm and snaps easily if broken.

• fry :

  to cook in a pan in a small amount of fat.

• measure :

  to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).

• slice :

  to cut into thin pieces using a sawing motion with your knife.

What is Polenta?

• Polenta is a very old dish of Italian origin made from flour obtained from different cereal grains, corn being the most commonly used today. Corn was imported to Europe from America in the 16th century and gave polenta its typical yellow color. However, before the introduction of corn, polenta was darker, made chiefly with spelt or rye and then with buckwheat grain imported from Asia.
• How is corn polenta made? First, corn is dried and ground, then it is boiled in water or broth to create a warm, creamy mixture like porridge. When cooked this way, it has a mild, nutty corn flavor. Look for stone-ground cornmeal when possible; this process keeps more of the grain intact, retaining more nutrients.
• You can try jazzing up your polenta by adding butter, cheese, herbs, and vegetables. Or, you can cool the boiled polenta in a loaf shape that can be baked, grilled, or fried. You can also stir it into a batter to make a cake! Once considered peasant food, polenta has made its way into gourmet menus and cookbooks.

Let's Learn About Italy!

• Italy became a unified country in 1861, only 150 years ago. It is sometimes called "bel paese" or "beautiful country."  
• Italians invented the piano and the thermometer! 
• In ancient Roman mythology, two twin brothers named Romulus and Remus founded Rome, Italy's capital city. The myth says the twins were abandoned and then discovered by a she-wolf before being found and raised by a shepherd and his wife. Eventually (and after many exciting adventures), they found themselves at the location of Palatine Hill, where Romulus built "Roma." The Italian wolf became Italy's unofficial national animal. 
• In the 1930s and 40s, Mussolini, Italy's prime minister, and dictator tried to eliminate all foreign words from the Italian language. How did he do that? He just changed them! For example, in soccer, "goal" became "meta." Disney character names changed, too: Donald Duck became "Paperino;" Mickey Mouse became "Topolino;" and Goofy became "Pippo." Although they're not banned anymore, these words and names have stuck. So now if you go to the Italian Disneyland, called Gardaland Park, you will see Topolino and Pippo! 
• About 60 million people call Italy home, and it is 116,350 square miles, slightly larger than the US state of Arizona. If you compare that to the United Kingdom, 67 million people live there, and it is about 94,350 square miles. So, the UK is smaller than Italy but has a bigger population! 
• The Italian flag is green, white, and red. These colors represent hope, faith, and charity.
• The average Italian eats close to 55 pounds of pasta annually. If you think about how light pasta is, that is a considerable amount! There are more than 500 different types of pasta eaten in Italy today. 

What's It Like to Be a Kid in Italy?

• Kids begin school at 6 years old. They grow up speaking Italian, but they learn English in school, so many become bilingual in Italian and English.
• The most popular sport for kids is football (soccer). The Italian word for soccer is "calcio," the same word they use for "kick." A favorite of younger kids is "Rody, the bouncing horse," a plastic horse that a small child can hop onto and bounce around the room. Rody was invented in Italy in 1984.  
• The family ("la famiglia") is a central characteristic of Italian life. Children have great respect for their older relatives. It is traditional to name the first male child after the grandfather and the first female child after the grandmother.
• If kids live close to school, they can go home and have lunch with their families! Lunch at school might be pasta, meat with vegetables, a sandwich, or a salad with lots of ingredients. Families typically eat dinner later (7 to 8 pm), so kids end up staying up later, too!
• Between lunch and dinner, kids often enjoy "merenda," which is an afternoon snack that translates to "something that is deserved." It is really a mini-meal that can include both savory and sweet foods. Examples of savory foods are a salami or mortadella sandwich, a slice of rustic bread rubbed with a cut, raw tomato, or "pizza bianca" (white pizza without tomato sauce). Types of sweet foods eaten during merenda are "gelato" (a lower-fat type of ice cream), any kind of cake, or biscotti dipped in warm milk.