How do you serve a stew base with polenta?

Polenta is mild, so the stew carries the flavor. Creamy polenta catches the sauce the way pasta or mashed potatoes would, and San Gennaro polenta is a versatile alternative to pasta, bread or rice. Grilled or pan-fried rounds hold together and stay soft inside, with a crisp crust under the stew. In northern Italy, soft polenta has long been a bed for stews and braises.

Choose by the stew. A brothy stew suits creamy polenta in a shallow bowl. A thick stew suits crisp rounds.

Peel off the film and pour off any liquid. Cut a San Gennaro Traditional Italian roll into small, thin pieces and put them in a saucepan. Cover them with 1 cup of chicken or vegetable broth and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cook over medium heat about 10 minutes, stirring often, until the pieces soften and break down. Mash smooth with a wooden spoon or an immersion blender, then stir in 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan.

Make it just before you eat, while the stew finishes. The Creamy Polenta recipe gives the full method.

Cut the roll into 3/4-inch rounds, pat them dry and brush both sides with olive oil. To grill, heat the grill to medium and cook the rounds 8 to 10 minutes a side, until golden. To pan-fry, heat a griddle or cast iron skillet over medium heat and cook the rounds about 2 minutes a side, until golden and crisp. Lay them in shallow bowls and spoon the stew over them.

For bite-size pieces, cut 3/4- to 1-inch cubes and pan-fry them until golden, about 10 minutes, as the Bolognese over Polenta recipe does. The Griddled Polenta recipe shows the rounds step by step.

Heat the Classic Cacciatore base and stir in fully cooked chicken or your favorite protein. Spoon it over creamy or grilled polenta as a thick, chunky sauce, and garnish with fresh parsley. Cacciatore means hunter in Italian. The dish began as a one-pot meal in Italy's country kitchens, usually chicken or rabbit slow-cooked in tomato sauce with onions, bell peppers, garlic and herbs.

Bring the Northwest Cioppino base to a simmer in a large pan or pot over medium-high heat. Add about 1.5 lb of seafood, such as crab, clams, mussels, prawns, scallops or fish. Simmer about 5 minutes, until cooked through, and do not overcook it. Ladle it over creamy polenta and finish with fresh parsley and a wedge of lemon. The base itself contains clam broth and clam base.

Plan on one 18 oz San Gennaro roll for every two or three people when polenta is the base of the meal. As a side, one roll serves about four. A jar of Classic Cacciatore holds about 5 servings of 2/3 cup before you add the meat. One jar of Northwest Cioppino with about 1.5 lb of seafood serves 4 to 5. Each base comes in a 24.7 oz jar.