We had started washing up the night before, but glasses with bits of wine in them were still on the table, along with several bottles, odd plates and various other debris. A table the morning after is like a beach after a storm, so clearing it is a bit like beachcombing, picking through the crusts of bread, mandarin peelings, spills and caps, and discovering that the wire cage from the fizzy wine has been re-twisted into a stick man, a Ferrero Rocher wrapper is now a ring and a walnut shell has been turned into a tiny ashtray.
The table didn’t belong to me, but to an old friend. We had both enjoyed plenty of wine, and it was Sunday, and raining outside, and everyone else was sleeping or under duvets and watching stuff on their devices, so there was no reason or rush to do anything. We sat at the table with the debris, drinking coffee for ages, and deciding to move only when we needed to eat – the kids, too. There were pots and pans all over the stove and we needed some space. The biggest pot had what seemed to me extremely dry remains at the bottom, so I put it in the sink and turned on the tap, figuring that a good soak would help.
I am still not sure how my friend managed to get from the table to the tap so quickly, especially given the state of us. She leapt up, shouting “Stop!” and, as she did so, slammed the tap off and tipped the pan upside down. “They are the best bits, you maniac,” she said (in Italian), before sitting down again and rubbing her head.
Fortunately, polenta left overnight in a pan is resistant and firm enough to be almost waterproof, so the water I’d sent in was easily tipped out and the remains patted dry with a kitchen towel.
By this point, everyone was awake, so the clearing up was shared in order to start eating again. Getting overnight polenta out of a pan requires mixed implements, if you want to get at every single bit. A spoon is best for scooping out the softer bits, or you can shave them off with a knife, while a spatula is best for scraping down the sides, and a flexible palette knife is ideal for the bits that seem to be soldered to the bottom.
Once it was all out of the pan, the polenta looked like an enormous heap of uneven rubble, which is the key to its fried success. First, a good amount of butter and olive oil were heated in the biggest iron frying pan until they foamed. A loose layer of polenta was added and pressed down, so the bottom got a golden crust and sort of held together (although neatness is not the aim), before the whole thing was flipped. While the new bottom got a crust of its own, the top was covered thickly with grated parmesan, which melted and created a mesh in the gaps. The granular nature of polenta means that, when fried, it develops a great crust as well as a centre that is a little like custard. Eggs and bacon were fried in other pans and then piled on top of each serving of cheese-polenta rubble, which, at that moment, was one of the best breakfasts I had ever eaten.
It is also one of the best snacks. And you don’t even have to leave the polenta to set in a pan, either; leftover soft polenta can be scraped into an oiled tray or on to a piece of greaseproof paper and left to set firm overnight. Then, the next evening or the one after that, when you open a bottle of wine, cut slices or thin wedges from the fat pancake of polenta, fry them until golden and, in the last seconds of cooking, sprinkle very generously with parmesan, which again should be allowed to melt like a mesh. However, if you do happen to leave the polenta in the pan for hours, once you’ve excavated it and turned it into breakfast or a snack with a cold drink, fill the pan with water and leave it to soak before even thinking about tackling the actual washing-up.
Fried polenta with cheese
You hardly need a recipe for this, but here are a few notes:
Leftover polenta, or 200g polenta or instant polenta cooked according to instructions and either poured into a tray or left to cool in a pan
Butter and olive oil, for frying
50-100g grated parmesan
Either break the polenta into an uneven rubble or cut into slices. Then, in a large frying pan warm a good amount of butter and olive oil and fry the polenta until deeply golden on both sides. Sprinkle really generously with parmesan and wait a few seconds until that melts.
For breakfast, serve with fried eggs and bacon, or for an aperitivo or snack, serve immediately with a favourite drink.