Friday Feast: Soft Polenta with Nettles, Peas and Goat’s Cheese

Using cornmeal to make polenta gives a satisfying, coarser texture that won’t lump as easily as the finer ground Italian polenta. Any type will work here, but the exact cooking time will depend on how coarse they are – just taste periodically until the raw flavour is gone and it is thick and creamy. If you find it hard to source cornmeal then use polenta instead.

Stinging nettles are a wild herb with a lovely, grassy flavour. Find them in your garden, allotment or perhaps your local farmers’ market. Nettles are a kidney tonic, high in iron, calcium and magnesium. They help enrich the blood and build vitality. You can steep the leaves and stems in boiling water to make a tasty, fortifying tea. If nettles are not available spinach can be used in their place.

NOTE: Nettles are prickly and will sting you, so handle with care and use gloves when plucking the leaves from the stems, or hold the bunch with a cloth and cut leaves off with scissors so they don’t touch your skin. Cooking removes their sting.

SERVES 4

POLENTA:

• 1.4 litres (2½ pints/6 cups) filtered water
  
• 4 bay leaves
  
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
  
• 240 g (8½ oz/1½ cups) corn grits (cornmeal) or polenta
  
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  

PEAS AND NETTLES:

• 300 g (10½ oz/2 cups) shelled peas, fresh or frozen
  
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
  
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  
• 2 leeks, thinly sliced
  
• Sea salt
  
• 150 g (5½ oz/6 cups) nettle leaves, roughly chopped (see note)
  
• 175g (6 oz) fresh goat’s cheese
  
• Zest of 1 lemon
  
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  
• Freshly ground black pepper
  

MAKE THE POLENTA:

1. Add water and bay leaves to a medium pan and bring to the boil over high heat. Cover pan, reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
   
2. Remove and compost bay leaves and add salt. Raise heat to high and slowly pour in cornmeal, whisking constantly, until mixture is boiling again – be careful, it may splutter. Reduce heat to low and cook uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes, whisking every minute or so to prevent mixture from sticking. Taste to check that the corn grits (cornmeal) are soft and cooked; if not, continue cooking for 5 minutes more or until the raw flavour is gone. Remove from heat, stir in olive oil and season to taste. Cover pan and set aside while you prepare peas and nettles.
   

READ At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well by Amy Chaplin, photographs by Johnny Miller (Jacqui Small, £25)

COOK Get ideas at amychaplin.com