Polenta fries

To say that I'm obsessed with Grizzly Peak's polenta fries would be an understatement. They are so freaking amazing. They are crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and served with this incredible homemade ketchup. I've called the restaurant and asked for the ketchup recipe but they wouldn't share it, which is actually unusual, most places are happy to provide their recipes. I don't blame Grizzly Peak though, if I found out how to make it at home I'd be much less inclined to spend $9 on polenta and ketchup. Even though the ketchup recipe is a mystery, the polenta part is actually super easy (and cheap!) to make. I used instant polenta because I'm a quitter and don't want to spend 30-40 minutes whisking over a hot stove.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup instant polenta
2 1/4 cup water*
salt to season the water (next time I may try veggie stock)
1 teaspoon garlic powder (if I were really fancy I'd use chopped roasted garlic)
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning OR rosemary (adjust to your tastes)
cooking spray

Directions:

Boil salted water in a sauce pan and slowly stir in polenta. Cook according to package directions, mine cooked in only 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in garlic, parmesan, and your herbs. Transfer this to a pan that you've sprayed with cooking spray (I used a pyrex that measured maybe like 8"x6"). Take a wet spatula and evenly spread polenta in pan, trying to smooth it as much as possible. Place it in the fridge until it is firmly set and cool. Invert it onto a cutting board and slice into thick fries, they could really be any size you want. Arrange them onto a baking sheet and spray with cooking spray. Place them under the broiler until they are brown and crispy on the outside, turning as necessary to crisp all sides. Broilers all have different strengths, so the cooking time will vary wildly. Just keep an eye on them. Mine took about 15 minutes from start to finish and the bottoms browned before the tops so I turned them so that all the sides had a chance to crisp up.

*The amount of water you'll need to use will depend on the type of polenta you pick up, just follow the directions on the box. You can also season these any way you like, I didn't want mine to be too herby so I just lightly seasoned them.