The polenta was done in the microwave. Go ahead, call the police. The deed is done, the crime against the culinary arts committed, and there is no undoing it, and it is delicious. It has curry. A cup or so of chicken broth, 3/4 teaspoon prepared curry, salt and pepper, cayenne and garlic, butter, and whatever you wish. This polenta is hot.
Ed: I forgot to mention this and it could be helpful. Pretty much any prepared curry will have stuff in it that does best started first in hot oil. The curry used here is colored with turmeric which does best staged later. So 3/4 teaspoon prepared curry is zapped with butter first. The butter melts, heats the curry. Secondly, and this is not scientific it is my experience, these grains turned to powder, corn, wheat, rice, and even beans, all react very slowly in cold liquid. Not much absorption happens at all until the cooking liquid is boiling. Then it all happens at once. So you might as well have the liquid boiling first then add the powder slowly while mixing it in to avoid clumps, then return to the heat for near instant boiling and thickening. Otherwise you could be standing there over a stove stirring a pot wondering when your grits are going to start to thicken when you could know that will not happen until the liquid boils then suddenly it happens at once. I do not know why 100 ℃ at sea level is the magical number, but it is.
Ed: I forgot to mention this and it could be helpful. Pretty much any prepared curry will have stuff in it that does best started first in hot oil. The curry used here is colored with turmeric which does best staged later. So 3/4 teaspoon prepared curry is zapped with butter first. The butter melts, heats the curry. Secondly, and this is not scientific it is my experience, these grains turned to powder, corn, wheat, rice, and even beans, all react very slowly in cold liquid. Not much absorption happens at all until the cooking liquid is boiling. Then it all happens at once. So you might as well have the liquid boiling first then add the powder slowly while mixing it in to avoid clumps, then return to the heat for near instant boiling and thickening. Otherwise you could be standing there over a stove stirring a pot wondering when your grits are going to start to thicken when you could know that will not happen until the liquid boils then suddenly it happens at once. I do not know why 100 ℃ at sea level is the magical number, but it is.
Scrambled eggs whisked with butter as a sauce. A teaspoon of ricotta to finish.
The water for the shrimp never boiled. The heat was on the rise when I tossed in the frozen shrimp. Snapped off the heat but the heat persisted awhile anyway. It is an electric stove so not immediately responsive. I made the eggs in another tiny pot. When I was done the shrimp appeared to have denatured and turned color, and opaque throughout as far as I could tell. The temperature of the water had not changed. I think there was a battle of the rising and lowering temperatures there in the pot so that it all evened out. At any rate, the shrimp were cooked perfectly.
I actually intended for the polenta and the eggs to be firmer, but this worked out fine. When I tasted it I as amazed. When I was done I wanted more. It's nice to know the extra polenta is right there to use anytime. Then it will be firmer. It does that when it cools and another chance is given to decide how wet you want the reheated curried polenta.
The bacon goes with the polenta and scrambled eggs as sauce and shrimp, but tonight it is on a separate plate. The food stylist and the cook had a blow out argument about that and then the photographer chimmed in. It was awful, they were yelling and hissing angry sweary words. Then the diner pipped up and added his impotent 2¢ on the matter and flounced off complaining about the whole thing had gone cold. But the plate has a metal rim and cannot be reheated so the entire thing had to be carefully slid onto an ordinary plate that could go into a microwave for 30 seconds. And as those four people happen to be myself you can imagine how I felt behind all of that. So for art the bacon was kept on a separate plate.
The bacon goes with the polenta and scrambled eggs as sauce and shrimp, but tonight it is on a separate plate. The food stylist and the cook had a blow out argument about that and then the photographer chimmed in. It was awful, they were yelling and hissing angry sweary words. Then the diner pipped up and added his impotent 2¢ on the matter and flounced off complaining about the whole thing had gone cold. But the plate has a metal rim and cannot be reheated so the entire thing had to be carefully slid onto an ordinary plate that could go into a microwave for 30 seconds. And as those four people happen to be myself you can imagine how I felt behind all of that. So for art the bacon was kept on a separate plate.
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