We have a flat griddle pan in our house, which is ideal for getting those appetizing charred lines that you see in burger adverts. However, the griddle pan always, without fail, sets off the fire alarm. A fact which I forgot today, having decided to make griddled polenta for lunch. The fire alarm inevitably started its deafening screeching, and no amount of open windows, doors or extractor fans seemed to make it shut up. After what seemed like half an hour of swearing and waving a tea towel at the fire alarm (it was probably only actually about a minute) it finally stopped. I took my housemates some apology polenta as compensation for disrupting their essay writing. But fear not, you don’t have to use a griddle pan – a frying pan will do just fine.

Polenta is a new favourite – cheap, easy to cook, and can be flavoured with any number of nice things. I chose rosemary, chilli and cheese. Polenta can be made to be soft (similar to mashed potato and good at soaking up sauces) or firm, in which case it can be cut up into wedges and fried.

(more…)