Polenta fritta

Well I didn't buy it, but since it has been a weird schedule with Spring Break... I decided that I could just review a food that I ate that I had never had before.

For our 6 month anniversary, Rusty and I went to Prego's ( a nice Italian restaurant in Burlington). In addition to bread to nibble on they also gave us little cubes of polenta fritta. I had heard of polenta before but I had never tried it or seen it fried into little cubes.

Essentially polenta is a dish made of boiled yellow or white cornmeal. Originally polenta was thought of as a "peasant food" or food for the poor, but today it is viewed of as more of a gourmet food. It takes a while.. an hour or more.. to  cook the polenta (requires constant attention and stirring).

After the polenta is cooked it can be further prepared by being fried (balls, cubes, sticks, etc.)

So we were served this mystery food. I have to say that it didn't look to terribly appetizing.. it almost looked old and crusty. On the first bite I did not really like it because I did not think it had much flavor, but on the second bite I really appreciated the subtle taste.

I would eat it again.. but i don't know if I would order it if it wasn't free!