• 1-1/2 cups chicken broth or stock
• 1/4 cup coarse cornmeal
• 2 portobello mushrooms, about 3 inches in diameter
• olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 sprigs of rosemary
• 4 salmon medallions (3 ounces each)
• salt and pepper
• Port Wine Cream
• Sauce (recipe follows)

Line two 3-inch tart pans with foil, allowing the foil to hang over the sides of the pans. Set aside. For the polenta, bring the chicken broth to a rolling boil. Gradually whisk the cornmeal into the broth. Continue to whisk constantly until the mixture thickens, 3 to 5 minutes. Lower the heat to the lowest setting and change to a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring occasionally, 20 to 25 minutes, until the polenta is very thick and the spoon will stand upright. Spoon the polenta into the two prepared pans and cool to room temperature. Chill for a minimum of 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Place the two mushrooms in a shallow pan and cover with olive oil. Add the garlic cloves and 1 sprig of rosemary. Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit at room temperature until cool. Remove from the oil and discard the oil. Set the mushrooms aside. [Or Chef Danny suggests using the oil from the mushrooms in lieu of butter, and serve with a nice, crusty bread.]

Use a cookie cutter to cut the mushrooms into a circle about the same size as the salmon medallions. Pour about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a large sauté pan and heat over medium heat. Add the salmon and cook about 3 minutes. Turn the medallions over and add the polenta circles and mushroom circles to the pan. Cook until the salmon is done, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Season the salmon to taste with salt and pepper.

To serve, place a salmon medallion on each of two dinner plates. Set the polenta circle on the salmon first, and then the mushroom. Top each with a second salmon medallion and secure the tower with a rosemary sprig. Garnish with Port Wine Cream Sauce and serve immediately.

Yield: 2 servings.

PORT WINE CREAM SAUCE

• 1 teaspoon minced shallots
• 1/4 cup port wine
• 1 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper

Place the shallots and wine in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and reduce by half. Add the heavy cream and reduce again by half. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.

BROWN BASMATI RICE PILAF
Executive chef J.R. Thomas of the Crescent Club in Memphis, Tennessee, serves this pilaf with “Cedar Plank” salmon fillets.

• 1 cup brown basmati rice
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1/4 cup minced red onion
• 1-1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped green onions

Heat a dry sauté pan over medium heat. Add the rice. Stir and toast about 3 minutes to develop the nutty flavor. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Heat the canola oil in a medium saucepan. Add the onion and cook until just beginning to brown. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add the rice, stirring until combined. Add the chicken stock, butter, bay leaf, salt, and pepper, and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat to just simmering and cover the pan. Cook according to the time indicated on the rice package. (Cooking times may vary among brands.) Remove the pan from the heat and let rest 5 to 10 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaf.

To serve, fold in the parsley and green onions.

Yield: About 4 servings.

ASIAN PESTO RISOTTO
Pesto fans will love this risotto from chef Michael Lustig of Capital City Club in Raleigh, North Carolina.

• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-1/2 cups arborio rice
• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper
• Asian Pesto (recipe follows)

Pour the chicken broth in a saucepan and heat until just simmering. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the onions and sauté until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté 1 minute. Add the rice, stirring constantly, and sauté 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of hot broth and cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Lower the heat if the mixture is cooking too fast. Continue to add the broth in 1 cup increments until 5 cups have been added, cooking about 5 minutes between each addition. Taste the rice. When fully cooked, the rice should be tender but still firm. If additional cooking time is needed, add broth 1⁄4 cup at a time. Cook about 2 minutes and taste again. When the rice is ready, remove from the heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To complete the risotto, add about 1-1/2 teaspoons (more if desired) of the Asian Pesto to each cup of the cooked risotto.

Yield: About 8 servings.

ASIAN PESTO

• 1/4 cup pine nuts (about 3 ounces)
• 1/2 of a fresh jalapeno, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
• 1-1/2 teaspoons fish sauce, Nam Pla (Thai) preferred
• 1 lime, juice only
• 3/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup basil leaves
• 1/4 cup mint leaves
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• salt and pepper

Place all the ingredients except the vegetable oil in a food processor. Pulse until nicely chopped. With the machine running, slowly add the oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

The pesto may be held in the refrigerator, covered, for about 5 days.

Yield: About 3/4 cup.

CREAMY POLENTA
This polenta recipe, shared by executive chef Michael Lustig of the Capital City Club in Raleigh, North Carolina, has a slightly spicy taste and is a nice accompaniment to almost any entrée.

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 4 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon flaked or crushed red pepper
• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
• 2 ounces shredded cheddar cheese

Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed, medium-size saucepan. Sauté the garlic until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the milk, salt, and red pepper, and bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat. Slowly whisk in the cornmeal. Cook 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cover the pan. Cook for a total of 45 minutes, stirring for 1 minute every 10 minutes of cooking time. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese. Serve warm.

Yield: About 6 servings.

CAJUN-STYLE SHRIMP AND CHEESE GRITS
Scott Rowe, executive chef at North Carolina’s Pinehurst Resort, uses tasso to give these grits a spicy taste.

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1-1/2 cups diced yellow onion
• 1/3 cup diced shallots
• 4-1/2 ounces tasso, diced, about 1 cup (see note)
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 3⁄4 cup stone ground grits (do not use quick or instant)
• 8 ounces white cheddar cheese, shredded
• 24 large (21/25) raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
• salt and pepper

Spray a large saucepan with nonstick spray. Set the pan over medium heat and add the butter. Heat until melted. Add the onion and shallots and sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the tasso and sauté for 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken stock, cream, and half-and-half. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil.

Slowly whisk in the grits. Turn the heat to the lowest setting and cook 45 to 50 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese.

While the grits are cooking, prepare a charcoal fire, preheat a gas grill, or heat the broiler. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Grill or broil the shrimp until tender, and just pink in color.

To serve, spoon the grits into four large pasta bowls. Top each bowl with six shrimp and serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings.

Note: Tasso is smoked pork used to season Cajun recipes. See “Great With Grains” below for additional information.

GREAT WITH GRAINS
Many ingredients are compatible with grains. Onions and garlic, for example, are frequent additions to recipes using rice, grits, corn, barley, etc.

One standout ingredient is so versatile that we wonder how we ever managed without it. Executive chef Scott Rowe of North Carolina’s Pinehurst Resort introduced us to a Louisiana specialty called tasso. “It’s also referred to as tasso ham,” Chef Scott explains, “and the meat is produced by rubbing lean strips or chunks of cured, boneless pork with Cajun spices. Then the pork is smoked again, yielding a highly flavored meat used primarily as a seasoning.”

Tasso is diced before it is added to grits, rice, gumbo, beans, jambalaya, and other Louisiana recipes. Fans insist it enhances red beans and rice; others maintain that tasso makes a pizza to remember.

For those living beyond the Louisiana borders, locating the spicy pork can be tricky. Upscale meat markets should be able to special order tasso if the butcher is familiar with the product. The following companies ship tasso and other Cajun goodies, including andouille sausage, boudin, and turducken. The Web sites specify shipping and minimum order requirements: www.cajunspecialtymeats.com, www.pochesmarket.com, and www.cajungrocer.com.

QUICK? No, Thanks.
Grain processing has changed over the years, particularly in the area of breakfast cereals. Corn and wheat flakes were introduced in the 1890s; puffed rice and wheat followed just after 1910. In addition, processes to precook, steam, or roll some grains have drastically cut the required cooking time.

Oats are a good example. Termed oat groats in the 1800s and early 1900s, the cereal took hours to cook — recipes in cookbooks of that era recommend three to four hours in a double boiler.

Marion Harland’s Complete Cook Book (The Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1903) advises that “four hours of boiling makes oatmeal good; eight hours makes it better; 24 hours makes it best.” If rolled oats hadn’t come along, we suspect the Quaker Oats folks might be feeding mostly horses today.

Some changes, particularly those that created instant cereals, aren’t necessarily an improvement in taste — just in cooking time. Sorry, we award no kudos to instant grits or instant rice. We’d rather eat the box they came in. With enough butter and sugar, it’s possible … allowing 24 hours cooking time.

RICE
Of all the grains, rice might deserve the king’s mantle. Culinary historians believe rice, a staple for centuries, was being cultivated in China by 5000 B.C. Today, rice remains a major food source for a large portion of the world’s population. Still grown in China, and in Asia, Europe, and the United States, rice is available almost everywhere. It is one of the least expensive ways to appease those who are literally hungry.

Thousands of varieties of rice are available, and production ranges from small farms that sell only locally to huge commercial operations that ship worldwide. Rice is classified by color and grain size. There are two colors, brown and white. Brown rice has had only the outer husk removed. Rice that has had the husk, bran, and part of the endosperm removed is regarded as white rice. Complicating this slightly are a few varieties of rice that are blackish-purple or red in color. Since they are sold with only the outer husk removed, they are a “brown” type.

Grain size refers to the actual length of the grain compared to its width. Long-grain is four to five times longer than it is wide. Medium-grain is shorter in length, and short-grain is a fat, nearly round grain. Long-grain rice cooks up light and fluffy, while short-grain rice sticks together. Medium-grain falls somewhere between, and most recipes specify either long- or short-grain.

Rice that produces an aroma while being cooked is labeled an aromatic. There are several varieties including Middle Eastern basmati, Italian arborio, and Texas-grown basmati sold under the name Texmati. Wild pecan rice, an aromatic Louisiana variety, is neither a wild rice nor pecan-flavored.

Last, but not least, and definitely not the least expensive, there is wild rice. Not really rice at all, these grains are the seeds of marsh grass grown in the Great Lakes area of the United States. Wild rice has been harvested by hand for decades and only recently have commercial producers begun using machines. Either way, it is more costly than regular rice. Packaged as giant, fancy, or select, the first two are preferred. Some markets might sell wild rice mixed with white or brown long-grain rice to lower the cost.

Executive chef J.R. Thomas of the Crescent Club in Memphis, Tennessee, has the last word. “Use the rice the recipe calls for,” he says. “If you are making risotto, for instance, you need to use arborio. And, remember, no matter what type or color the rice may be — follow the cooking times and directions on the package.”

Cooking time will vary, instructs the chef, depending on whether one is using plain, raw rice, or if the rice has been treated. Converted, quick, and instant rice have all been subjected to some type of soaking, precooking, or drying.

“One more thing,” Chef J.R. notes with a laugh, “if the recipe says ‘don’t stir,’ then don’t. It makes a difference. Risotto gets stirred. Pilaf doesn’t. Pay attention.”