Creamy Baked Polenta with Blue Cheese and Walnuts

By Hklbrries

Note: You’ll only need half the polenta for this recipe. The rest can be served with a tomato sauce of your choice or cut into cubes, toasted and tossed into a salad.


"It’s a week into the new year. That’s a week of living on salad. Or grilled chicken breast. Or grapefruit. Or whatever magic food you’ve picked to help shed pounds.

Going nuts yet?

Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows that food boredom is a big diet killer. After all, there’s only so much one can do with carrot sticks, skinless chicken breasts and nonfat yogurt. Right?

Wrong.

Francie Radecki, a local leader for Weight Watchers, said one of the biggest things people need to do to lose weight is make sure their healthy food tastes good.

“Make your food plan interesting so you don’t get rid of it,” she said, “because you’ll be doing it for the rest of your life.”

Good point. Any decent weight-loss plan is less about shedding quick pounds than about changing habits to ensure the weight stays off.

Intellectually, we all know that the secret to weight loss is to burn more calories that we consume. The trick is to make those calories taste as great as possible.

“A lot of what I tell people is already out there,” said registered dietitian Elaine Reid, spokeswoman for the Spokane Dietetic Association. “People can go on the Internet and find anything out.”

We know to cook chicken without the skin. We know to trim fat from beef. We know to use herbs. We know to use applesauce and prunes in lieu of fat in baked goods.

Still, sometimes we need inspiration. So, in the spirit of calorie-counters everywhere, here are 10 things you can do to add flavor to your food without adding a lot of fat or calories. “Stop dieting,” Radecki said, “and start living.”

“”One of the things we tell people is that when a recipe says to cook onion and garlic in oil, instead use a nonstick pan and a little water, then cover and cook them over low heat to get all the flavor out of them,” Reid said.

“Make your own vinaigrette, using a ratio of one part extra-virgin olive oil, one part “mellow” vinegar, such as balsamic, and one part citrus juice, Reid suggested.

“Roasted garlic adds terrific flavor to just about any dish, and can be used as a spread on bagels or toast. Trim the top off a head of garlic, add a little bit of water, wrap it in a piece of foil and cook for 45 minutes at 400 degrees. “That makes it really soft, and you can spread it like butter,” Reid said.

“Roast those vegetables. “A lot of people know they need to eat more vegetables,” Reid said. “If you roast them in a hot oven, you’re going to caramelize all the natural sugars in them, and they taste so much better.”

“Flavored extra-virgin olive oil and flavored vinegars, used in moderation, will add complexity to dishes. As Radecki suggested, “Balsamic vinegar is a really great flavor enhancer. I’ll grill a chicken breast on my Foreman grill. I have some really good balsamic I bought in Seattle, and I just dip my chicken in it.”

“Choose those condiments wisely, Reid said. “There are several condiments that are more flavor than they are fat: Mustard, hot sauce, salsa, horseradish, aged balsamic vinegar. You can add some of those higher flavored condiments to pan drippings to get different sauces so that you don’t have to add cream or butter.”

“Go ahead. Rub it in. “The rubs you can get are so much more healthy than the marinades that you soak your meat in,” Radecki said.

“Say goodbye to mild cheese. Cheese is fattening, and the low-fat and fat-free versions can be unappealing. The trick, Reid said, is to use less of a really strongly flavored cheese. Aged cheddar, parmesan, blue and gorgonzola all pack a flavor punch, so you often can get away with using less of it.

“Use spray bottles to add vinegar and oil to dishes, so you’ll use less of it. Or put soy sauce in a spray bottle and give some air-popped popcorn a light spritz. It’s a nice way to satisfy a salt craving.

“Try sun-dried tomatoes – either packed dry or drained of oil – in place of bacon in soups, stews and pizza, Reid suggested. It won’t taste the same, but the roasted flavor of the tomatoes will lend a hint of smokiness to a dish, without nearly the fat.

Need more inspiration? Here are a few good recipes to get going. Put that salad down and enjoy some real food."

Ingredients

• 1 quart water
• 1 teaspoon coarse-grained salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 1 cup coarse ground polenta
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Olive oil or nonstick cooking spray
• 2 ounces best-quality blue cheese (Maytag if available)
• 1/4 cup walnut pieces

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 F. Pour water in a 1 1/2-quart nonreactive baking dish. Add salt, pepper and polenta; stir. Add butter. Place dish on center oven rack and bake uncovered 40 to 50 minutes, stirring at the halfway point. Polenta is done when practically all the liquid has been absorbed. Taste it. If it’s creamy and good, it’s done. If it’s granular and unpleasant, let it cook a little longer.

Pour creamy polenta onto a baking sheet with sides. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat broiler to the highest setting. Coat a cookie sheet with a fine mist of cooking spray or olive oil, or use a nonstick baking sheet. Cut half of the hardened polenta into four or eight pieces and place on the cookie sheet. Reserve remaining polenta for another use (see note). Spray polenta tops with a fine mist of olive oil or use a pastry brush to brush lightly with oil.

Place polenta squares under broiler and cook until tops start to brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from oven, crumble cheese and walnuts over the top of the polenta, then place back under the broiler, until the cheese melts and the walnuts are golden, about two minutes more. Serve immediately.


Nutrition Information:
Per serving:
186 calories
11 grams fat (5 grams saturated, 55 percent fat calories)
6.5 grams protein
15 grams carbohydrate
18 milligrams cholesterol
1.7 grams dietary fiber
519 milligrams sodium