Polenta

I had never had polenta in the US, but I've been loving it ever since I tried it for the first time in Switzerland - it's apparently a staple of Northern Italy. It's so hearty and filling, definitely a good comfort food. Plus, I am shocked by how a little goes a long way - a cup of it could feed me two meals worth, which is barely making a dent in the (ridiculously cheap) bag I have.

This meal was one of those stone soup-esque, "take out what little food I have left and make something out of it" sort of meals. I'm trying to clear my food completely  before i go grocery shopping again, mostly because I want a clear sense of how much i spend on food per week. Polenta is a good food for these types of days because seems really versatile - you can pretty much cook it in any sort of broth and put anything in it to flavor it and make it taste good. This combination was really yummy.

Polenta with pancetta, tomatoes and potatoes.

Polenta
one 500g packet of pancetta
one medium-sized potato
one tomato
parmesan cheese, shredded
oregano (optional)

The ratio to cook polenta is 4 water, one polenta. I mostly eyeballed it because we don't
have any measuring tools and trying to convert mL to something I can understand is still
a mystery to me. If I had to estimate, I use about 3-4 cups of water (in a cup this size)
and a little less than one cup of polenta.

chop up the potato into cubes about the same size as the pancetta, then fry in a pan
with salt and pepper until browned.
add pancetta to the pan and cook until it doesn't have a deep shade of pink anymore.

meanwhile, bring the water to a boil in a pot with a little salt. once it's at a rolling boil, slowly add
the polenta (avoid dumping it in all together, because then it will clump up and cook
unevenly) Turn the heat to low, and put a lid on it for about 10 minutes. Every two minutes
or so, lift the lid and stir it around. When it starts to look a little more porridge-y
in consistency, add the potatos, pancetta, and a chopped tomato.

scoop out the polenta, top with cheese and some dried herbs if you have any, and eat!