One of college's greatest challenges is stomaching the "dorm food" each day. When you need a break from the daily gruel, polenta is a cheap and easy alternative.
By cheap and easy I mean that with the basic recipe, you can feed your roommate and all of your friends all for under 5 dollars. If you chose to jazz it up, the price will obviously go up, but not to an impossible extent.

First, a quick dossier on the dish: polenta is a peasant dish from Northern Italy. It is made with yellow corn meal and some sort of liquid. If anybody has had grits, you could compare it similarly. Polenta is normally sweeter than grits and has a little more body. Polenta could be called a "mush" of sorts, but it is an incredibly versatile food. You might see it served immediately after it is cooked, like porridge. But it can also be cooled in a dish and then cut into shapes and sauted, or grilled, or even deep-fried. You can add ingredients or combinations thereof like sundried tomato and basil. You can sprinkle it with parmesan cheese or you could serve it with a soup or meat dish.

Oh baby.

Here is what you will need:

Ingredients

- 2 Tablespoons of finely chopped onion, or shallot
- 2 Tablespoons of whole butter
- 3/4 cup of cornmeal (I prefer yellow)
- 1 quart of milk, water, or chicken stock (broth will work, also)
- Salt and pepper to taste

Hardware

- a mixing bowl big enough to hold your cornmeal, but not much larger.
- a 2 quart pot (or anything else that will hold all of the ingredients)
- a 10"-12" whisk or whip
- a wooden spoon
- (optional) a date to show off your new recipe to

Start by heating your butter in your pan over medium heat. Those of you who tend to substitute olive oil for butter are missing out here. Remember that polenta is from Northern Italy, where butter rules over olive oil. You don't want to upset the Italians now, do you? Aside from minor mob related threats, the flavor is just better with whole butter.

Add your aromatics (onions, or shallots) and sweat them. Once they turn translucent, you are ready for your next step. Don't rush this step. Turning up your heat to high will only scorch the onions. If you're adding any other ingredients that could benefit from sauting, like sun dried tomatoes, add them now.

Next add your liquid and bring it to a boil. NOW QUICK! Turn down the heat. If it stays boiling, liquid will evaporate quicker than you want it to and your finished product will be gritty rather than

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