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Mock Cheetos/Tings

Source of Recipe

Brenda-Lee Olson


Recipe Introduction

Gourmet Cheetos (Giada De Laurentiis- Everyday Italian)

List of Ingredients


3 cups Basic Polenta, recipe follows
2 cups olive oil, for frying
1/4 cup pine nut parmesan or other parmesan sub Salt
1 cup purchased marinara sauce


Recipe

Well, it's a little bit complex since you have to make polenta, cool it, cut it into strips, deep fry it, cool it, then season it, but it is VERY possible to make tings at home for way less than store bought. And honestly, if Giada can do it, so can you - lol. Just make sure your cameraman is less focused on bosoms and more on cooking :-D

Ingredients for Tings: Corn meal, rice and/or sunflower oil, nutritional yeast, salt.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Lightly oil an 11 by 7-inch baking dish. Make polenta according to the recipe which follows. Transfer the hot polenta to the prepared baking dish, spreading evenly to 3/4-inch thick. Refrigerate until cold and firm, about 2 hours.

When thoroughly cooled, cut the polenta into 2 by 1-inch pieces.

Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, fry the polenta pieces until golden brown on all sides, about 3 minutes per side. Using tongs, transfer the polenta pieces to paper towels and drain.

Place the polenta pieces on a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while cooking the remaining batches.

Transfer the polenta pieces to a serving platter. Sprinkle the polenta with the Pine Nut Parm and salt to taste. Giada suggests one "Serve, passing the marinara sauce alongside."

BASIC POLENTA:
6 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cups yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons cf unsalted butter sub

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a heavy large saucepan. Add 2 teaspoons of salt. Gradually whisk in the cornmeal. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the mixture thickens and the cornmeal is tender, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. Add the butter, and stir until melted.