Creamy Polenta and Roasted Asparagus

I entertain much more easily these days, thanks to my cooking repertoire, a collection of tried and true dishes I have made so many times, I can almost do them without a glance at the recipes themselves. My go-to meal in the spring is Donna Hay's rosemary lamb shanks served with creamy, oven-baked polenta and crispy, roasted asparagus. The sides, which I cook in the oven at the same time, are simple to prepare, making the dinner party itself just that much easier to pull off. Even on a week night!

I found the oven-baked polenta recipe in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. Polenta's more traditional stove-top recipe requires constant stirring, so the oven-baked option a no-brainer. Ina Garten introduced me, by way of her many cookbooks, to the concept of roasting vegetables, which I now do for everything from Brussels sprouts to fennel to eggplant. Her asparagus recipe is almost too simple to even be called a recipe.

Oven-Baked Creamy Polenta

Ingredients:
3 cups water
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon fresh marjoram or (1/4 teaspoon dried)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. In a lidded baking dish, whisk together water and cornmeal, salt and pepper. Cover and bake 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.

2. Remove from oven and add milk, butter and fresh or dried marjoram and whisk briskly until smooth. Serve immediately.

Serves 4
Everyday Food, Issue #3, May/June 2003

Cook's note: I double this recipe to serve 6-8 people and typically omit the marjoram when I serve it with rosemary lamb shanks.

Parmesan Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus (about 30 large)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 lemons cut in wedges, for serving

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. If the stalks of the asparagus are thick, peel the bottom half of each. lay them in a single layer on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 12 to 20 minutes, until tender.

2. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and return to the oven for another minute. Serve with lemon wedges.

Serves 6
Barefoot Contessa Family Style, Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter, 2002

Cooks note: When I roast asparagus in the oven, I choose thick stalks over thinner ones. (I like the thinner stalks for barbecuing outside on the grill.) I never peel the asparagus, just snap off the tough ends. I typically use more olive oil than suggested, moving the stalks back and forth on the pan to make sure that they are thoroughly covered in oil. When I serve the asparagus with the lamb shanks, I omit the Parmesan and the lemon wedges. If I am cooking this dish together with the oven-baked polenta, above, I put the asparagus into the 425-degree oven after I've stir the polenta, 15 minutes into its cooking. When I take the polenta out of the oven to add the recipe's last few ingredients, I turn the oven down to 350 degrees and let the asparagus cook another 5 minutes, if necessary.

--Tracy Schneider

Comments

[Ramona on May 29, 2009 at 08:40 AM]

Lately, I've been working on building my own binder of basic recipes and menus that I can easily adjust to suit the moment. This Oven-Baked Creamy Polenta sounds like a good addition and I'm going to try it soon. Thanks for sharing it. It's also good to see that other's enjoy Ina Garten's roasted asparagus as much as I do. She's even got me roasting my shrimp! Hmmm...shrimp, asparagus, polenta...I feel breakfast coming on...

[Tracy Schneider on May 31, 2009 at 11:57 AM]

Your breakfast menu sounds delicious. Count me in!