What is a nice accompaniment to a tomato sauce or grilled chicken ro steak? Do you go for a side or base of polenta, pasta or risotto? or do you eat these on their own? What works best with various sauces and sides?
Out of all three polenta is the most versatile. The ground corn meal can be perfect on its' own, as a base or gracing a plate as a side.It can be labor intensive if you want to cook it.It does require a lot of stirring after a basic mixing of finely ground cornmeal, water and salt.It can also be lumpy however the best way to beat this is to pulverize the meal before cooking.An easier method would be buying the already made polenta logs and grilling them until they're crispy and golden yellow. A simple cacciatore sauce with chicken is the best main dish with it. The thin tomato sauce works well with the polenta. Another good sauce is a simple mushroom and spinach one. This is an easy make with simply sauteing spinach with baby bellas in a mix of garlic olive oil and butter. Can you serve polenta with grilled or roasted meats. Only if there's a sauce. On it's own , without any sauce ro even butter and cheese polenta can be somewhat dry. There should be some kind of sauce there.
If you want to serve a good side with steaks or chicken then think either pasta or polenta. Pasta can accompany achicken in the form of noodles. Again with any kind of sauce it's a great side. You can even cut up a rotisserie chicken or a flank steak and add it to a tomato or spinach sauce to make a heartier dish.Any kind of pasta is good on its' own. Just add butter or to make it more flavorful cook it in the broth of your choice. Unlike polenta there are so many different types that work well with any type of ingredient. Penn can work with a chunky tomato sauce while linguine is perfect as a base for clams or chicken cutlets. Risotto is a diffrent matter.Risotto is a phenomenal , especially the saffron infused risotto Milanese. This is perfect as a main course or as a side with any protein form lamb chops to shrimp. A plus about this addition is, like pasta, anything can be added to it while cooking. The miost popular add ins are mushrooms and asaparagus. You can also mix in chopped tomatoes too along with a variety of cheeses.
What's the most versatile and best? Use polenta for sauces. Try pasta as a side and use risotto as a main dish.
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