Savoury Porridges/Risottos

[Second Summer]

Recently when I was in Michigan, we visited a Scandinavian-inspired restaurant, and one of the dishes I ordered was corn porridge (I think semolina?) with vegetables, whole corn bits, and herbs. I quite liked the taste of it.

Anyone here know what I'm talking about?

Is savoury or dinner-style porridges a thing? Any recipes you want to share?

 

[Tom L.]

I don't know if this counts as a porridge, but I think the Italian dish polenta, made from corn, is usually made savory as opposed to sweet.

Also, when I visited the Britain and Ireland, I once had oat cakes made with seaweed. Again, it was definitely savory, not sweet, and I would have liked it just as much prepared as a porridge instead of as griddle-fried cakes.

 

[PTree15]

Recently when I was in Michigan, we visited a Scandinavian-inspired restaurant, and one of the dishes I ordered was corn porridge (I think semolina?) with vegetables, whole corn bits, and herbs. I quite liked the taste of it.

Anyone here know what I'm talking about?

Is savoury or dinner-style porridges a thing? Any recipes you want to share?

That sounds delicious. I don't think I've had a lot of porridges; I suppose the closest thing would be cream of wheat, but we always had that for breakfast. I like the idea of a porridge for dinner.

 

[Second Summer]

I don't know if this counts as a porridge, but I think the Italian dish polenta, made from corn, is usually made savory as opposed to sweet.

Yes, I suspect this could have been what I had, actually.

This restaurant also served polenta "cakes" (dinner-style), which I also sampled.

 

[shyvas]

Recently when I was in Michigan, we visited a Scandinavian-inspired restaurant, and one of the dishes I ordered was corn porridge (I think semolina?) with vegetables, whole corn bits, and herbs. I quite liked the taste of it.

Anyone here know what I'm talking about?

Is savoury or dinner-style porridges a thing? Any recipes you want to share?

I would call a grain cooked in liquid risotto style as porridge is a breakfast dish. Semolina or corn cooked in liquid is called polenta.

I often use grains such as barley, wheat berries, whole grain oats, buckwheat (kasha) plus vegetables to make risotto style dishes. Not only are they tasty, inexpensive but also very healthy.

http://about.spud.com/blog-risotto-without-rice/

Savory Mushroom and Herb Steel Cut Oat Risotto Recipe on Food52

 

[shyvas]

Barley risotto is delicious. It does take quite a long time to cook but you can use a pressure cooker to save time.

 

[Mischief]

I'm very fond of polenta, both creamy and the firmer kind, which can be cut into shapes and fried.

Hmmm... now I may have to make some today.

 

[shyvas]

My favourite one is green asparagus risotto.

 

[Second Summer]

I would call a grain cooked in liquid risotto style, as porridge is a breakfast dish.

In my neck of the woods (the Norwegian Woods, that is, and I believe all of Scandinavia) it is definitely called porridge ("grøt", "grød" or "graut"), and it is not necessarily a breakfast dish. For example:

• Rømmegrøt: can be breakfast but also considered a festive food for other occasions, made from sour cream, whole milk, wheat flour, sugar and salt, topped with sugar, cinnamon and melted butter.
• Risengrynsgrøt / risgrøt: Rice porridge, which I consider a dessert as it's sweet, but can be enjoyed any time of the day
• Bygg-grøt: traditional porridge made from barley, definitely a savoury dish, nothing particularly breakfasty about it, and I think non-breakfast barley porridge dishes exist in other European countries as well.
• Various dessert porridges which you tend to call puddings in English, such as rabarbra-grøt (rhubarb porridge), prune porridge and the Danish "rødgrød med fløde" (red berry porridge with heavy cream).

Nothing wrong with risotto, of course. I had a delicious risotto just the other day at a pub lunch with my work colleagues. And I can see why people in some other countries world use the term 'risotto style' as risotto may be more familiar to them.