April 16: Grilled Salmon. Rosemary Polenta and Roasted Radicchio with Ricotta

For Saturday night dinner, I had some grilled salmon, rosemary polenta and some roasted radicchio on the menu.  I am in serious love with Ina Garten's Rosemary Polenta recipe and kind of want to make it all the time.While it not a difficult recipe to make, I (without fail) forget to include the "cooling" period between cooking up the polenta and being ready with the cold polenta to pan-fry. And therefore grossly underestimating how long it will be until we're ready to eat. Paul was planning to meet his guy friends out, and I was apparently pushing back his departure time.

It is approximately 7:30 p.m. (a normal time for us to eat or start to prepare dinner). The anxious commentary begins.

P: "Are you seriously just starting this now? It's going to take forever!"

C: "I told you this was what I was going to make! Why are you surprised? And it doesn't take that long." <-- blatant denial.

Unabated, I got the ball rolling melting the butter and olive oil on the stove. I am going to make it and it's going to be good and made quickly, dangit. 

Yeah. It's really healthy for you.

I clipped some rosemary from our planter to use for the recipe. 

P: "Well, tell me when I should start the grill for the salmon because that won't take very long." 

C: (audible sigh)

It was wise that he stayed in the living room while I chopped this.

After the butter is melted, you add in garlic, red pepper flakes (I only use about 1/2 a teaspoon because I only tasted red pepper flakes when I used the full one, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Following that is the half and half, chicken or vegetable stock, and milk. You then bring everything to a boil. 

The commentary temporarily subsides. I think Back to the Future III was on or something. 

Right now, I'm thinking, "I should have used a bigger pan."

You stir in the cornmeal until it is incorporated into the milk mixture. I found this didn't take very long to happen. Thank goodness, or someone may have had a coronary. 

P: "Seriously, how much longer?"
C: "I don't know. You are driving me bonkers."

After the polenta is mixed together, you add some Parmesan and then pour it into a 13" x 9" pan. 

P: "Are you going to put that in the fridge? You can't put it in hot. It will warm the fridge up."
C: (highly doubting the accuracy of that statement) "It's that what the fridge is for? To make things cold? How will it do that?"
P: "It's going to take too long! I'm already late! Why aren't we just eating it like that?"
C: (louder audible sigh)


In order to aid the cooling process (and to calm someone down), I ended up putting the polenta outside rather than let it cool on the countertop and then put it into the fridge.

Here's the polenta, you know, just checking out the neighborhood from our front balcony.

P: "Is it ready, yet? They are all already there!" <-- not verifiable
C: "JUST GO."


(He didn't. The polenta is persuasive.)

I had some leftover radicchio to make from the produce basket the week before, so I saw this recipe featured and decided to give it a whirl. I didn't have very much, so I tried to pare down the ingredients to the right proportions. I was also wondering if I even had radicchio, as most radicchio I have seen is more of a purple color. (I did. Phew.)

I brushed the leaves with olive oil and set them in the oven to broil. They cooked up VERY quickly (especially since I had such a small amount). 

After the radicchio was done roasting, I added it to the marinade and let it sit. Paul saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and began to cook the salmon.


After the polenta is cooled (via front balcony or fridge), you cut it into triangles, and pan fry it in olive oil and butter.

Do you SEE why I make this? IT'S COOKED IN MORE BUTTER AND OLIVE OIL.

Paul cooked the salmon on the grill for about 10-12 minutes. We used the single packages of frozen salmon a lot. They are really easy to make and can be defrosted in 15-20 minutes in a cold water bath if you forgot to pull them out of the freezer ahead of time. The salmon also had those neat little turkey timers, which help indicate when the fish is cooked through.

Bing! It's ready!

The polenta turned out great. Browning it in the pan makes the edges crispy, but keeps the middle soft and warm.  I think you could add even more fresh rosemary if you wanted. You definitely get the rosemary flavor, but it's not overpowering. I have concluded that the polenta goes well with pretty much everything -- we've had it now with fish, pork, chicken, with runny eggs in the morning. It also makes quite a big amount, so it lasts for many meals. 

Salmon was cooked just right -- not too mushy for me, and a little less cooked for Paul. Using the gas grill makes things a heck of a lot easier in terms of even heat and cooking time.

I was not a big fan of the radicchio -- I think it still came out really bitter, even though I would guess that the marinade and ricotta are supposed to help alleviate that. Maybe my ratio math was shoddy?

And yes, Paul made it out. He was like, "Do you want to come?" with his coat on and the door open. I almost said, "Yeah, I'll come. I just need to go fix my makeup and change..." but figured I had tortured him enough for one night.