Sunday, November 20, 2005

Ethereal Cereal

Or, What I Had for Breakfast on Sunday. (Go visit Andrew to see what this is all about.)
This is one of our best breakfasts, and Cranky is always the one who makes it. He takes some nice, fresh, Bob's Red Mill stoneground "polenta or grits," as the label says (not the cornmeal) and mixes it with the prescribed dose of water and salt, in a slow cooker. He uses one of those mini slow cookers intended for hot party dips, and it holds the perfect amount for two bowls.
Plug the cooker in, which equals "On" (there's no switch and only one temperature on this guy), cover it and leave it alone for two hours.
You can check on it now and then if you're around, but unlike stovetop polenta, it really needs no stirring.
As it approaches the degree of tenderness you like, begin to grate some sharp white cheddar cheese, and chop some jarred pickled jalapeno peppers (to taste). You can add those flavorings now while the grains finish cooking, or you can stir them in at the end.
Cooking time seems to vary; today it took two hours and 45 minutes to get perfectly perfect. That's really not an absurdly long wait for breakfast! Drink your tea, go out for a walk to the Farmers' Market, putter in the garden, and then return to a bowlful of ethereal cereal.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yummers! You gotta love ol' Bob and his Red Mill!

cookiecrumb said...

you got that stuff down there? maybe i WILL move!
PS: Jes' give me the initials of your town. SM? RSF? P? RB? I used to live in E when I was at UCSD. Heh!

Jamie said...

We can get Red Mill, too. Awesome stuff...I think I have some of their wheat germ in the fridge right now. But of course our local alternative is the Red MULE. :-)

I love hot cereal. That does, indeed, sound ethereal.

Guy said...

What erya out of your livin' mind? You're burning daylight! I'm not going to sit around for nearly 3 hours waiting for breakfast, that's insane. And I sure as hell can't go to the market and live in the world on an empty stomach. You don't eeeven want me around on an empty tummy. A cranky Biggles is no fun, feed it first and get that out of the way. If I'm going to wait 3 hours for a meal, it's going to be pork ribs!

Ribs for breakfast. That doesn't sound right even for me. A melon and some bacon, that sounds better.

Biggles

Greg said...

A cool chef I used to work with taught me to bake polenta. About a five to one ratio of H2o to grain. Takes only 40 minutes oven time. I gotta try that Red Mill stuff.

obachan said...

Looks great!
(And you know what? I'm going to get a slow cooker very soon :))

Randi said...

I love grits and polenta. I have to mail order grits because they dont sell them here in podunk. I found you awhile ago, lost you but found you again. Im glad!!