Cheesy Polenta With Broccoli Rabe And Nettle crisps

Who doesn't love cheesy, buttery carb gloop?! Although we can try and pretend that this dish is pretentious- it's not. In my opinion, the food from the poorer regions of Italy is always the best.

Basically this is a dish that would be suitable as a breakfast before a hard days work in the field.

You don't even need to buy polenta marketed as polenta, somehow that name means that the shop can hike the price up on this inexpensive product. A bag of coarse ground corn meal is about 75p and it is literally the same thing. 

The reason why people buy instant polenta, however, is because it takes about 30 minutes to cook and you need to be stirring it for most of that otherwise it will burn your pan and it is a pain to remove burnt corn in case you were wondering.

For the Polenta:

1:3 Polenta to water (easiest to use cup measurements for this and you dont need to be accurate, it will probably need more water as it cooks but it's better to add it as it thickens like risotto)

1 vegetable or chicken stock cube

100g grated parmesan (or as much you like)

100g grated extra mature cheddar 

a few leaves of finely chopped fresh parsley

Ground black pepper

1. Add all of the ingredients to a non stick pan apart from the cheeses and parsley and bring to the boil stirring regularly. 
2. Turn the heat down and continue to cook for a further 20 minutes, stirring regularly and adding water when necessary (you want it thick but still a liquid).
3. About 5-10 minutes before it is cooked (taste it to see if the corn is smooth and not crunchy) add your cheese and parsley and stir well to avoid lumps. You can add olive oil or a knob of butter if you want it a little more decadent.

The mixture will thicken once cooled and go into a jelly-like state but if this happens just reheat it with a little water and stir or whisk the mixture and it will return to it's smooth state.

Mixture forming a skin

For the Broccoli Rabe, just add it to boiling salted water for around 5 minutes then drain.

Add it to a baking tray lined with baking parchment and add a little chopped garlic, dried chilli flakes and a drizzle of olive oil and bake for about 10 minutes at 200 degrees celcius.

You can garnish it with whatever you want, I chose nettle crisps because I had some on the side and they add a little crunch to the gloopy but delicious dish.