Polenta Carbonara
I usually use a par-boiled polenta like that in the photo above that takes 8 minutes to cook. I so often make just one serving that it makes perfect sense to use it. Who wants to stir a single serving of polenta for thirty plus minutes? This time, however, the entire menu was designed to feature polenta, I needed a lot of it and besides, the par-boiled costs a lot more. I bought whole grain ground corn polenta.
It was an adventure for me. Not that it was the first polenta cookery I’d done, just that it had been a long time and there were things I’d forgotten. First, whole grain polenta has a tiny bitter edge to it that were I eating it with just butter on top I might not care for. Baked into these casseroles it was fabulous and added a chissa note. (I am sure that is not correct usage, but I didn’t want to say je ne sais quoi on an Italian blog!) Secondly, the finished polenta was much fluffier than the par-boiled ever is. Mind you, I use more water than you see in recipes. I like polenta creamy, not stodgy. I added water bit by bit several times during the cooking times, and I don’t know how much I added. You must serve your own taste here. So many people have told me that they don’t eat polenta because they don’t like the texture that I think I am not the only one who will always prefer a creamy polenta. It still turns firm enough to cut if refrigerated, though.
I cooked about 300 grams or 10.5 ounces of raw polenta (or ordinary stone ground corn meal) for this casserole. That’s quite a lot, but if you are lucky enough to have leftovers, it reheats very well and is still delicious. I heated it over very low heat in a heavy frying pan with a lid over it. That worked.
The tomato-based sauce I used was the braising sauce from the pork and sausages we ate after the polentas. It could have been a different sauce and then it would taste somewhat different. The original recipe doesn’t use any, but I find it tastier and moister by far with some sauce.
The cheese I used was a local Pecorino of medium aging. That’s because this dish’s origins are very local. This dish is not made elsewhere according to Umbrian cookery experts. I think you should use what seems local and tasty to you and not search out a specialist cheese shop that sells Umbrian Pecorino.
For Italian purposes, this is a first course that will be followed by a meat/dish/cheese course and a vegetable. It therefore served six people. I think with a vegetable side dish it could be a one dish meal, but then I think it serves only four people, or maybe even needs to be a bit bigger.
Polenta Carbonara
for 6 as a first course
250 ml 0r 1 cup of tomato based sauce, cooked
300 g or 10.5 ounces raw weight polenta or corn meal, cooked in about 800 ml or 3-1/3 cups of salted water
200 g or 7 ounces of cubed pancetta or bacon
4 tablespoons olive oil
200 g or 7 ounces grated Pecorino cheese
optional a handful of fresh oregano leaves
If you are using conventional bacon rather than pancetta, you will need to cook it and drain it before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.
In a frying pan heat the olive oil and fry the pancetta cubes in it until they are somewhat crisp.
Spread the tomato sauce in the bottom of a shallow baking dish. On top of that, add 1/2 of the cooked polenta and smooth it down a bit. Scatter 2/3 of the crisp pancetta and its cooking oil over the polenta. Sprinkle 1/2 of the grated cheese over that. Add the rest of the polenta and smooth it, then sprinkle on the rest of the cheese, the oregano leaves if you are using it, and finally scatter the last 1/3 of the pancetta.
Put the dish in a 175°C or 350°F oven and cook about 30 minutes, or until the venter is bubbling. Everything is already cooked, but you would like the cheese melted and the casserole hot right to the middle.
This is one of my favorite fall and winter dishes. Most of us could really eat a lot more whole grains for ideal health and so if you use whole stone ground polenta you’ll be doing your arteries a big favor. It’s fairly cheap to make. It’s easy to make. It just isn’t all that fast because of having to make the polenta. I sometimes make it up ahead and leave it all ready for the oven in the fridge, then I can just cook it when I want it. In that way, it is much more convenient than pasta.
As a matter of fact, these polenta casseroles are easier and more forgiving in every way than pasta dishes. Overcooking doesn’t hurt a bit until you reach burnt. They sit around without getting soggy and they reheat. Viva polenta!
7 comments October 9th, 2008
