I have the ingredients on hand but was hoping for some assistance on the best way to successfully make baked polenta fries. TIA.
First make your wet polenta as you’d like it (which obviously means lots of seasoning, butter and Parmesan). Spread it into a shallow sided tray, to the depth that you want your fries. I suspect thcker ones are going to work better than very thin - I do mine as British potato chips - about 1cm. Let it cool.
It’ll form into a fairly solid slab which you can easily get out of the tray. Cut it into the size of fries you want. I do mine at 1 x 1 x 7cm (approx). Brush with oil and coat in a dusting of more dried polenta (it helps the crunch). Spead in a single layer on a baking tray (works better if you line the tray with non-stick parchment). Bake at 220C for 25-30 minutes or so, till crisp.
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In addition to what @Harters said, I’ll caution you mot to make the first polenta too runny — it leaches water as it cools down in the fridge.
I personally don’t love the crunch of cornmeal as a coating unless it’s very fine (ie not the stuff you used for the polenta itself), but if you are pan-frying rather than baking, you can coat the polenta sticks with seasoned rice flour (or cornflour or potato starch) for that crisp covering. The flour coating doesn’t work as well in the oven.
And now I’ll plug chickpea fries instead (panisse / panelle) - same idea, very tasty!
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I hope to try a few different methods over time to find my sweet spot.
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