I grew up on this northern italian dish. My grandmother always used the coarser grind and cooked it so that when placed in a flat plate it was sliced,not with knife, but a regular strand of sewing thread, this always insured a clean cut without breaking up the polenta. My babies were fed the softer version with milk instead of commercial cereal. I usually make the traditional recipes from my childhood. We always made a double batch so that we were able to make a second meal during the week. The first dinner was always accompanied with chicken stewed in wine and herbs. The polenta was used to absorb the liquid. No bread was ever served when we had polenta. The second recipe was simple laryering of tomato sauce, then slices of polenta, and topped with a generous amount of cheese (I always liked muenster) and finally another layer of polenta and another topping of sauce. Bake it in a slow oven as all ingredients are already cooked, except cheese. My mother always had to add blue cheese to a section of the pan, as my father had to have it this way. The other dish started with sauteing slices of onions, then adding polenta polenta (I always saved any broken off pieces of polenta for this), let it cook for a few minutes, then add plenty of muenester and cook til it melts. (My youngest son would eat such a hugh bowl of this, I thought surely he would burst. ) I hope some of the members will try this some cold and wintery day. It's delicious and healthy and an economical meal. (One word of caution for members who have never cooked polenta, it creates a lot of steam which causes the polenta for form large bubbles that burst and will cause a painful burn if it comes in contact with your skin. Try to keep the polenta on a low temp once it begins to form and STIR. STIR,STIR, that's the secret of a nice, smooth polenta and also will help to keep large bubbles from forming.)

Reading the above comment brings back memories of going to my nona's house on Sunday's for her polenta and chicken cacciatore (and a so much more food). Love that meal!
One of the "leftover" ways we would eat it was taking slices and frying it with a little butter and eating it with a little maple syrup for breakfast. Or just parmesan cheese as a snack. Polenta is a great base for any meat and sauce type meal. Sooooo goood.