Millet polenta redux

[bunnyjadwiga]

Well, so we tried it again on Saturday.

Original from Granado, trans. by Brighid ni Chairain
Para hazer escudilla de mijo, o de panizo machado -- To make a dish of millet, or of chopped panic-grass

Take the millet, or chopped panic-grass, clean it of dust, and of any other filth, washing it as one washes semolina, and put it in a vessel of earthenware or of tinned copper with meat broth, and cause it to cook with stuffed intestines in it, or a piece of salted pig's neck, to give it flavor, and when it shall be cooked, mingle with it grated cheese, and beaten eggs, pepper, cinnamon, and saffron. (You can also cook the said grains with the milk of goats or cows.) And after they shall be cooked with broth, letting them thicken well, they shall be removed from the vessel and shall be left to cool upon a table, or other vessel of wood, or of earthenware, and being quite cold, they shall be cut into slices, and shall be fried with cow's butter in the frying-pan, and serve them hot with sugar and cinnamon on top.

This time I wanted to use some of the millet with dinner, first, so:
2 cups millet
7 cups water (3.5 water / 1 millet proportions) *
Brought to a boil, covered, and then reduced the heat very low and simmered until very soft and creamy.
This time, with less water but a longer slower cook, the resulting mass was more like pictures of polenta I've seen.
Pulled out about half for dinner.

With the remaining millet, mixed:
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch saffron
1/3 tsp cracked black pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup shredded 4-cheese mix
2 eggs, beaten

over heat, until a thick mush results.
Dumped it out into a rectangular plastic chinese food container and left it on the counter to cool.
After about 45 minutes, the resulting object could be shaken loose from the pan in a single oblong.
We put it in the fridge uncovered over night (for fear that it would accumulate condensation if we covered it.

In the morning (ok, about 15 hours later), we took it out, sliced it about 1/3 " thick and 2x4" slices, and fried it in butter in nonstick skillets, trying for a nice uniform browning on both sides. The more times we fussed with it, the more likely it was to fragment, but I'm afraid I wasn't daunted by that!

Definitely a success. I will hold out some millet plain for those who have dairy issues.

* Sarah still wants to try it with broth, I just forgot to put the meat base in. I liked it with no broth, myself. It might be quite good with a light vegetable broth though.

Comments

[montuos]

The more times we fussed with it, the more likely it was to fragment...

Treat it like scrapple: put it into the greased pan, and then leave it the hell alone for a few minutes! (Er, once you've tested to see how many minutes it needs...)

[iasmin.livejournal.com]

Sometimes you can tell how much attention it needs by how much it squishes from the top. Kinda like how you test a steak's done-ness by hand.

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

Make sure to get some salt into the cooking water somehow -- broth can help with that, or putting in some base, or just put some salt in; it's the same thing as with porridges in general, it'll be way bland without *some* salt.

And I second montuos's recommendation that the first side be left to fry for a bit; that will get the bottom edge to stick together so it won't break apart when you flip it over. I found that out when frying up polenta in my gradskool days. (Which I made from scratch 'cos you couldn't *get* pre-made polenta back then... can you believe what they *charge* for the pre-packaged stuff??? Sheesh.)