When the weather turns cold, I start cooking very filling food. I love polenta - it's as good a foil for delicious sauces as rice or mashed potatoes, but a lot heartier.
When I started making polenta, I'd follow the instructions in Italian cookbooks; Marcella Hazan says the water must be boiling and the polenta must be added in a slow, steady stream, being whisked the entire time. She writes, "You should be able to see the individual grains spilling into the pot." She then instructs that you cook it over a low flame for about 45 minutes - stirring all the while with a wooden spoon.
My method now is a lot more casual, but also more time-consuming. I add the polenta to cool, salted water (or even better, home-made chicken stock), and if I've planned ahead, I let it soak for about 30 minutes, to swell the grains. If not, I just put it straight over the flame using a whisk to stir out any lumps. When it comes to a boil, I turn the heat as low as possible, cover the pan with the lid and let it simmer for about two hours, giving it a good stir with the whisk every 15 minutes or so. Using the whisk works just as well for making smooth, lump-free polenta as Hazan's method for constant stirring with a wooden spoon, and it frees you up to do other things. And, with this method, there's less likelihood of getting burned - because it's so thick, polenta bubbles and "spits" as it cooks.
I've actually found an even easier way of cooking polenta, but it requires an immersion circulator - something I've only recently acquired. It's used for sous-vide cooking, although you don't necessarily need to put the food in a vacuum-seal bag. Immersion circulator-cooked polenta is fuss-free. I don't have a vacuum-sealer, so I put the polenta, salt and water in a ziplock bag, press out the air using a water displacement method (it's easy to do but hard to describe - look up videos on YouTube) then seal the bag before putting it in a container with the immersion circulator set at 87 degrees Celsius for two hours.
The important thing to remember is that you need less water than you do when making the polenta using the stovetop method, because when it's sealed in a bag, the water inside doesn't evaporate. If you were to use the same amount of water as conventionally cooked polenta, it would be very runny.
The first time I made polenta with the immersion circulator, when I opened the bag, the smell of corn was so strong I thought it was from the fresh corn in my fridge. Polenta, of course, is made from dried corn. By cooking it in a sealed bag, the aroma is contained and intensified, and only released when the bag is opened. After making the polenta, I poured it into a bowl, stirred in a large lump of butter and a handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese, then topped it with a spoonful of mascarpone and chopped fresh tomatoes, for an easy, warming, delicious meal.