Polenta with Puddle

Not to be a humbug, but I’ve come to expect that recipes followed to the letter turn out “correctly”(by that I mean edible and at least minimally palatable)—as my aptitude with following instructions is what has lead me to venture away from the page for the more trial and error territory of improvization. So imagine my surprise when something I made last night and followed to the letter flopped! I’m working every square inch of my cookbook shelf lately—revisiting old and neglected tomes and realizing why they’ve been neglected. The culprit here is “ ,“ a photoless hodgepodge of adventurous-sounding veg dishes offered up by restauranteur chefs of the 90’s. Due to my inexperience with polenta and pomengranate, and how potentially tasty this combination sounded, I decided to make a dish called “Polenta with pomegranate, sage and pine nuts.” Oh and spinach plays a major part in this dish too, though it loses top billing to the more “exotic” accents.

I didn’t take a photo because it turned into the ugliest yellow and red puddle I’ve ever plated, though the flavors meshed in potentially interesting ways. The main problem was that the wine never came down to a glaze and the broth added on top of that never came down to a sauce, in spite of two rounds of arrowroot slurry I fortified it with. Also, the cup of wine was a bit much. I didn’t have the Marsala called for so I substituted with a Syrah instead and understandly that made a big difference in flavor- J thought it was “vinegary.” And the proportions turned out weird too. For leftovers I’ve got 1/8 cup of leftover polenta—and another 1/8 of a cup stuck to the pan. Zero spinach and 3 cups of the wine sauce—which is really too overpowering for most vegetable dishes I can think of. Might be a better accompaniment with lamb or beef, but then, what do I know about lamb or beef? I think this was originally conceived of as a meat-based recipe and someone made a half-assed attempt to swap out loin for cornmeal. Bah.

One successful lesson was experiencing how yummy a saute of spinach, shallots, pine nuts and pomegranate seeds is. That I will be doing again. Funny, after making this and flipping through the book again to see if any other dishes bore the asterisk of my own test-kitchen run, I found only one—a garden paella I made 7 years ago on which I commented.. “kind of flavorless, not enough spice, end result quantity WAY off.” Without being a hater, I wonder if anyone else keeps a list of “non-recommended cookbooks.” Seems like this would be a useful service to home chefs, as there is considerable time and expense on the line when trusting the word of recipe developers and publishers. Or, humoring the possibility of (my) human error for a moment, do any cookbooks- particularly advanced ones- offer something like a tech support service? A 24-hour hotline for home cooks whose wine is not coming down to a glaze while the other simultaneous elements of the dish are ready to eat.. would be helpful. An expansion opportunity for CIA’s internship program?