Gourmet Italian

photo credit: evilhayama

When many of us think of Gourmet Italian food, we conjure up visions of pasta and pizza.  Did you know that polenta has played a HUGE role in the history of Italy and in its cuisine.  Polenta does not receive the recognition that it should.  This humble peasant dish provided sustenance for Italians who worked the fields in Northern Italy for centuries.  The Italians workers in the south had their fish and their pasta, but polenta was the traditional sustenance in the Northern regions such as Lombardy and Venetia.

To call polenta a cornmeal mush is an insult to an Italian.  This authentic Italian food was made with a sort of family ritual.  Way back then, a special unlined copper kettle called a paiolo was hung on a hook in the middle of the fireplace.  The hearths were usually large enough to accommodate a bench, and that is where the family would sit while the daily making of polenta took place.  The family members would keep warm by the fire and talk about their day while watching the cornmeal flow into the boiling water.  This authentic Italian food required lots and lots of constant stirring, so it was almost a celebratory event when it was finally done and was poured out steaming onto a wooden surface to cool.

Polenta can be eaten hot with butter and cheese, but once it cools it hardens and can be fried, broiled, sliced, or baked with other ingredients – much like a lasagna!

Cooking polenta the old-fashioned way is quite a chore.  It takes a long time just to get the very thin stream of cornmeal into the boiling water.  A while back the L.A. Times printed a recipe for polenta that can be made in the oven.  Although this is surely not authentic Italian food, it is lots easier and quite good.

Spray a 2 quart casserole with non-stick spray.  Now in your casserole,  mix 32 ounces of chicken or vegetable broth with a teaspoon of salt and a cup of yellow cornmeal and bake it for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  Remove from the oven and add a cup of any type of cheese that you like, but be sure it is crumbled or shredded.  Return the casserole to the oven and bake for 5 minutes more.  Garnish with parsley and serve as a side dish or as a pasta substitute with your favorite sauce. Once this is refrgerated, it can be sliced and fried.

So next time you think of authentic Italian food, remember the peasant dish that sustained half of a country for centuries – the simple Italian polenta!

Watch an Asiago cheese version of polenta being made here!

Mangia Bene!