Polenta Chicken

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A simple recipe for stewed chicken and polenta with garlic, a delicious polenta dish, full of comfort and flavor.

 

GARLIC CHICKEN AND POLENTA

 

 

GARLIC CHICKEN AND POLENTA

These garlic stewed chicken legs served over polenta are delightful! A dish that is easy to make, needs only three main ingredients but has so much flavor.

A typical Romanian dish – pui cu usturoi si mamaliga – chicken with garlic and polenta, this recipe is a great example of the simplicity of the Romanian kitchen, which always had to make the most of few and cheap ingredients.

 

 

WHAT IS POLENTA?

Polenta is a dish made from medium or coarsely ground yellow corn kernels. It is made by cooking the cornmeal in salted water. You could also cook polenta in stock or a mixture of water and milk.

Types of cornmeal for polenta:

Cornmeal comes in different textures: fine, medium or coarse.

Fine cornmeal:

• It is not really suitable for making polenta, I tried once – it was not good.
• You can use fine cornmeal to make porridge, cornbread, pancakes or tortillas or to bread chicken, meat or fish.

Medium cornmeal:

• I usually prefer the medium cornmeal/polenta, it has a shorter cooking time than coarse cornmeal, but it tastes just as good.
• It should be ready in about 15-20 minutes.

Coarse cornmeal:

• It is perfect for making polenta as well but has a longer cooking time – 40 to 50 minutes – compared to the polenta made of medium ground cornmeal.

Instant polenta:

• There is also the instant polenta, which is ready in no time. I cannot say how that is as instant polenta is not available around here.

Precooked polenta:

• And there is the precooked polenta, which is vacuum packed. I bought it once while on holiday in Italy.
• It was fine to eat, but not as tasty as regular polenta, it had a pretty strong artificial/plastic aftertaste.
• The only way I found to use that polenta was to cut it into thick slices and fry the slices in butter.

Polenta cooking times:

As already mentioned the different kinds of cornmeal have different cooking times, coarse cornmeal takes the longest to cook while instant cornmeal is ready in a couple of minutes.

ALWAYS check the packet’s instructions when you cook polenta. The cooking times differ not only from one type of cornmeal to another but also from one brand of cornmeal/polenta to another.

 

 

HOW TO COOK POLENTA?

Polenta is very easy to cook:

• Measure the amount of water you need.
• For regular polenta, you will need 250 g/ 8.8 oz/ 1 2/3 cups medium cornmeal, 1 liter/ 2.1 pints/ 4 ¼ cups water and 1 teaspoon fine sea salt.
• For softer polenta (the kind you need for this polenta chicken), you will need 250 g/ 8.8 oz/ 1 2/3 cups medium cornmeal and 1120 ml/ 2.4 pints/ 4 2/3 cups water and 1 teaspoon fine sea salt.
• Pour the water into a large, deep, preferably non-stick pot. Bring to a simmer, add the salt.
• Slowly start adding the cornmeal in an even stream, while whisking continuously.
• Continue whisking for a half a minute or so until there are no polenta clumps to see anymore.
• Reduce the heat to medium-low.
• Cover the pot leaving a crack open and cook the polenta according to the packet’s instructions while stirring often with a wooden spoon.
• Stir in the butter, optional, but great.

CAN YOU REHEAT POLENTA?

• Once the polenta is cool it will become sturdy, so you cannot reheat it by stirring it again in the pot.
• The only way of reheating polenta is to cut into slice and fry or grill these slices. They are wonderful served with sour cream or yogurt, tomato sauce, goulash, stews and so on.

 

 

HOW TO COOK THE GARLIC CHICKEN?

• Remove the skin from the chicken quarters. The chicken will be stewed and the skin will become soggy if you let it on the chicken. That is not nice!
• Cut the chicken quarters at the joint, to separate the chicken thighs from the chicken drumsticks. Or use already separated chicken drumsticks and chicken thighs.
• Heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed pan. The pan should be large enough to hold all the chicken pieces in one layer.
• Brown the chicken parts in oil. Add the paprika and stir to coat the chicken.
• Add the stock, you will need just enough to cover the chicken pieces almost entirely, but they should not be swimming in liquid, the top of the chicken parts should still be out of the liquid.
• Add half of the chopped parsley.
• Turn the heat down to medium-low, put the lid on the pot leaving a crack open and cook for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Turn the chicken parts in the sauce once during the cooking time.
• The sauce should reduce by half during the cooking time. If you want a thicker sauce, remove the lid from the pot during the last 5 minutes of the cooking time. I don’t find it necessary, I like to have a runnier sauce to soak the polenta.
• Add the grated garlic and the remaining parsley and cook for one more minute.
• Serve the garlic chicken stew over the freshly cooked polenta.

 

WHAT TO SERVE WITH POLENTA CHICKEN?

The traditional Romanian way of serving polenta chicken would be with pickled vegetables, my first choice would be green tomato pickles, but you can choose your favorite pickles as well.

Alternatively, serve the polenta chicken with a salad with yogurt dressing, cucumber dill salad or white cabbage salad.

 

MORE POLENTA DISHES?

HOW TO COOK BASIC POLENTA – MAMALIGA – how to cook basic polenta or Romanian mamaliga, creamy or sturdy.

POLENTA PIZZA – a gluten-free, healthier alternative to pizza: a cheesy polenta pizza that you can top with just about anything you like.

POLENTA AND CHEESE BALLS – soft on the inside, crispy on the outside: polenta balls rolled with feta cheese and sausages.

POLENTA CHIPS – crispy, spicy, low-fat, gluten-free and utterly delicious homemade polenta chips.

POLENTA ORANGE CAKE – Romanian polenta cake soaked with orange syrup.

 

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