creamy corn polenta with leek

Polenta feels like such a fancy sounding dish but all it really is is boiled cornmeal.  According to my friendly wiki site, it's known around the world as "peasant" food but many high-end restauraunts have brought it back... moving it up some notches in "social status".  I personally have definitely seen it on restaurant menus before.

It's another dish I have never made or tasted before so I was excited to try it out.  I was at the grocery store earlier and had seen some fresh leek that I thought would be a great addition to the polenta.  How would I know this if I haven't tried polenta before, I'm not sure, but I will assure you it worked.  Great little side dish.  

My only annoyance is that this recipe makes A LOT of polenta.  It says it serves 4 but it must be for 4 hungry sumo wrestlers.  Either that or maybe I just prefer smaller side dish sizes but I was eating this polenta for days afterword!  I had no help from my kids, they wouldn't touch it - "what's that green stuff!" And the hubby just "didn't feel like it".  So, next time I make it, I'll half the recipe.

A tip:  I often use cornmeal, instead of flour, to prep pans for baking.  I grease pans and sprinkle some cornmeal so that it is easier to remove the baked goods.  Works great under pizza and in muffin tins.  Makes everything just pop out.