Creamy Garlic and Herb Polenta

I really like polenta, but good polenta is hard to come by and it also takes a lot of work because you need to almost continually stir it while it is on the stove. There plenty of great things you can do with polenta besides just eating it as a side dish (see suggestions below). It goes great with the veal veal/chicken saltimbocca pictured here.

Creamy Garlic and Herb Polenta

Servings: 6

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 40 mins

Ingredients
6 cups stock or water
2 tsp salt, less if using stock
1 3/4 cups polenta/yellow cornmeal
2 T unsalted butter
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 T of herbs, minced (I used thyme)
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream, optional

Directions
Bring water or stock to a boil in a large sauce pan. Add salt. Whisk constantly while slowing pouring in the cornmeal. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring almost continually.
While that cooks, heat up butter in a small sauce pan. Add garlic and cook until soft, but not brown. When the polenta is almost done, about 25 minutes add the garlic and butter mixture. When the polenta is done, should be thick and not gritty, add the herbs and cheese. Add cream if desired and you are serving right away. Season to taste.
There are several things you can do with it now. You can place it on a sheet pan so that it is about 1/2 inch thick and let it cool, then slice it up and fry in a bit of butter. This is a great base for a saucy meat or vegetable because it absorbs all the flavors of the sauce. You could also use to cooled sheet of polenta and cut it up and layer it with sauce and cheese to build a lasagna instead of using pasta. But my favorite thing to do is just eat it right away. If for some reason the timing is off with the rest of your meal or something you can set it aside and when you are ready for it you can heat some heavy cream up and add that to the polenta to make it creamy again.

This is a picture of polenta lasagna from my textbook.