Wild rice adds a toasted nuttiness to this dish, and breaking it up in a food processor allows the rice to cook at the same rate as the polenta. Cookbook author Amy Thielen advises to scrape the corn cobs with the back of a knife after you grate the kernels to extract as much of the corn liquid as you can.
Featured in: The Enlightened Entertainer
Polenta with Corn and Wild Rice
Wild rice adds a toasty nuttiness to polenta, its creamy sweetness heightened with freshly puréed corn. Serve as a side dish or light main course.
Yield: serves 8-10
Time:
1 hour, 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 ears of corn, shucked
- 1⁄2 cup wild rice
- 4 cups whole milk
- 4 cups water
- 2 cups coarse polenta
- 2 tsp. kosher salt
- 3 tbsp. unsalted butter, plus more for serving
Instructions
- Set a box grater over a large bowl and then grate the corn cobs on the large holes until you get a soupy purée; you should have 3⁄4 cup.
- In a food processor, pulse the wild rice until coarsely cracked. Transfer to a fine sieve, rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear, and drain.
- In a 4-qt. saucepan, bring the milk and water to a boil. Whisk in the wild rice, polenta, and salt and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the polenta and rice are tender, about 1 hour. Remove the polenta from the heat and stir in the grated corn purée and butter until smooth. Pour into a large serving bowl or platter and top with more pats of butter before serving.