Polenta Ideas?

DH HATES it. I mean hate. It's very rare that I cook something that he won't eat - in fact this may be a first.  I've tried it mushy and set and grilled and he hated both. I think it's more to do with the texture than anything.... But I've now got a bag of it in the cupboard and I just hate to chuck food away.

Can anyone think of a way that I can hide it in something else? 

Oh, and he hates cheese too, so nothing that involves cheese, please. 

Here is my favorite polenta recipe.

Cut chicken breasts in chunks, slice two onions.  Fry the onions in the pan until soft, add some flour, more butter, and add  about 1 cup of milk until you have a nice sauce.  Add a tsp of Hungarian paprika.  Let the sauce simmer.
Fry the chicken breasts, or simmer them in stock.  When cooked well, add to the sauce.  This is Hungarian papricas. 

I love it with polenta (prepared as mush- the easy way- throw it into boiling water and stir to avoid chunks).  Add a dollop on the plate next to the papricas.  I also make mashed potatoes as my children prefer that to the polenta.  But they will usually have a spoonful or two of the polenta.  It was a marvelous comfort food for me when I lived in Romania- except that the chicken was always organic and incomparable in taste there- and I love taking a spoon of polenta, smothering it in the chicken and sauce- Yum.

The second favorite way- is to take the mush, put it into a Yorkshire pudding pan, grill it, drizzle butter or olive oil, cut into triangles or interesting shapes, and put escargots on the top.  A lovely starter.

The second favorite way- is to take the mush, put it into a Yorkshire pudding pan, grill it, drizzle butter or olive oil, cut into triangles or interesting shapes, and put escargots on the top.  A lovely starter.

This is what I was going to suggest, but with garlicky mushrooms in a red wine sauce instead of escargots.

cornbread!

or a sort of taco pie with a cornbread base?  but that would involve cheese...

My Italian cookbook has recipes for polenta pies which sound really good but they involve cheese! Tell your DH not to be so fussy!    I think you can also use polenta as a coating instead of breadcrumbs ... maybe you could make some fancy fish fingers or something?

Have you tried it as afters or breakfast?  Polenta, when fried up with butter is a doppelganger for fried cornmeal mush.  Drizzled with maple syrup....mmmmm!

I'm sure I've had an almond cake made with polenta at a restaurant somewhere. I'll hunt around and see if I can find a recipe online for you. As I recall, it was yummy! And didn't contain cheese! 


Edited to add: I found lots! This one has lemon as well as almond in it and sounds lovely!

Tell your DH not to be so fussy!   

LOL!! The weird thing is, he's probably the most un-fussy man I've ever met - he'll eat pretty much anything. Except it appears for polenta and cheese! 

Thanks for the great ideas ladies. I like them all - at the moment I'm thinking the garlic/wine/mushroom sauce would work but I'm also thinking that I might make turkey chili and cornbread. I think we're sort of burned out on deserts at the moment....

Oh, and he hates cheese too, so nothing that involves cheese, please. 

Hates cheese?  You're a saint for marrying him!  I don't think I could live with someone who hates cheese.

Hates cheese?  You're a saint for marrying him!  I don't think I could live with someone who hates cheese.

Ditto!

Have you tried it as afters or breakfast?  Polenta, when fried up with butter is a doppelganger for fried cornmeal mush.  Drizzled with maple syrup....mmmmm!

i was gonna suggest the same, only i'd make it like a porridge & use maple syrup to sweeten. good stuff, maynard!

good stuff, maynard!

I thought I was the only one who remembers this!

I thought I was the only one who remembers this!

well, if you are, then that'd make you the only other person to chuckle when someone says "don't take no mental heavyweight to figure that out, vern, knowhutimean?"

well, if you are, then that'd make you the only other person to chuckle when someone says "don't take no mental heavyweight to figure that out, vern, knowhutimean?"

Hee!!

Sidenote - - when that Malt-O-Meal commercial first aired, I sat next to a kid name Maynard in school.  Poor guy was tormented with that all year.

Does he do Mexican? I once made a recipe that paired fried polenta with black beans and red enchilada sauce, and it was FAB. I should make it again sometime...