Italian Food Recipes

Polenta Taragna is an Italian traditional recipe of Valtellina in Lombardy, its name derives from “tarel” that is the name of the long stick traditionally used to stir the polenta in a pot of copper. Polenta Taragna is a mixture of maize yellow flour and buckwheat flour that gives it the typical dark color; it takes about 40 minutes to cook in order to obtain a polenta with firm consistency but if you want obtain a consistency more soft you can cook it for less time or you can add some more water. Polenta Taragna is traditionally prepared with the addition of Italian cheese in particular cheese of Valtellina like Bitto or Casera and butter and in this way you obtain the so called "Polenta Concia" that means polenta with different types of Italian cheese. This type of polenta is ideal if it is accompanied with typical salumi of Valtellina like Bresaola and raw ham know as “Fiochetto Stagionato” or if it is accompanied with mushrooms.

INGREDIENTS (for 8 – 10 people):
1 Kg of Flour for Polenta Taragna
3,5 L of Water
Salt
300 g of Bitto or Casera (Italian cheese)
150 g of Butter

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 40 minutes

WINE: Cabernet (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Place water and salt in a caldron of copper, when it begins to boil sprinkle the flour for polenta taragna into the water and begin to stir with a wood-spoon.


Continue to stir for about 40 minutes until polenta become thick. Cut the butter and the cheese in cubes, in the picture below I show you Bitto cheese,



when the polenta is ready add the pieces of butter and cheese and mix all together in order to melt them.


Serve hot accompanied with traditional of salumi of Valtellina such as bresaola (dried salt beef typical of the Valtellina area in Lombardy) or raw ham know as “fiocchetto stagionato”.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

When I prepare a based polenta dish like polenta with mushrooms or polenta with bruscitti for a good lunch, usually I cook a quantity of polenta in excess in order to prepare for the dinner a delicious Italian recipe that is like a lasagna made of slice of polenta alternated with slices of ham and fontina (Italian Cheese). I love so much this delicious recipe!



INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)
250 g of Maize flour
1 liter of Water
1 / 2 Tablespoon of salt
50 g of Parmesan
150 g of Fontina (Italian Cheese)
200 g of Ham
30 g of butter
200 g of Rocket

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 1 hour and 20 minutes

WINE: Valle d'Aosta Chambave rosso Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
In a pot of copper put the water and let it warm. Before water boils, sprinkle the maize flour into the water and begin to stir with a wood-spoon.


Continue to stir for about 40 minutes until polenta become thick.


Place a towel in a pan and sprinkle it with some maize flour then put over it the polenta and let it cool. Preheat the oven to 180-200 °C.
When the polenta is cool, cut it in slice 1 – 1,5 cm thick.

Then prepare the slices of fontina (Italian Cheese) and the slices of ham.

Cover the surface of a baking tin with a sheet of baking paper, make a layer with the slices of polenta

and over a layer with the slice of fontina, ham and some parmesan.

Then make another layer with polenta and another with fontina, ham and parmesan. When the baking tin is full cover with the last layer of polenta and sprinkle with parmesan and some pieces of butter.

Bake for about 30 – 40 minutes or until the surface of polenta becomes golden.

Serve it hot with some rocket.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Polenta is a typical dish of the Northern part of Italy. It has itself a bland taste but if you match it with something with a tasty flavour, you can obtain a delicious Italian recipe. In the recipe below polenta is matched with Porcini, mushrooms with a very good taste. So you can prepare a delicious dish!








INGREDIENTS FOR POLENTA (for 4 people)
500 g of Maize flour
2 liter of Water
1 Tablespoon of salt

INGREDIENTS FOR MUSHROOMS
1 Kg of Porcini
1 / 4 Glass of Extra virgin olive oil
1 Clove of garlic
50 g of Parsley
30 g of Butter
1 Glass of white wine
Salt
Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 – 40 minutes

WINE: Muller Thurgau (White Wine)

PREPARATION
In a pan place the extra virgin olive oil and the garlic and let it brown. Then if you use fresh mushrooms clean them with a knife and a towel, cut into pieces and put in the pan,

instead if you use frozen mushrooms, place them directly frozen in the pan.
Let them cook for about 5-10 minutes then add the parsley, the butter

and stir until the butter is melted. Now add the wine and let it evaporated. Cook for about 30 - 40 minutes. If the sauce of mushrooms is too reduced add some water during the cooking.
In the meantime you can prepare polenta. In a pot of copper put the water with salt and let it warm. Before water boils, sprinkle the maize flour into the water and begin to stir with a wood-spoon.

Continue to stir for about 40 minutes until polenta become thick.


When mushrooms and polenta are ready place them in a platter and serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Polenta with bruscitti is a typical Italian recipe from the northern part of Italy. In particular it is a typical Italian dish from Milan. It is made of meat of pork and of veal cutted roughly, a chopped of carrot, celery and onion, tomato puree and an excellent Italian red wine like Teroldego. This recipe is usually prepared in the winter period, in particular in November and December and you can find it in the Italian mountain hut.

INGREDIENTS FOR POLENTA (for 4 people)
500 g of Maize flour
2 liter of water
1 Tablespoon of salt

INGREDIENTS FOR BRUSCITTI (for 4 people)
300 g of Minced meat of pork
300 g of Minced meat of veal
1 Carrot
1 Celery
1 / 2 Onion
1 / 4 Glass of Extra virgin olive oil
1 Glass of Red wine (Teroldego)
700 g of Tomato puree
Salt
Pepper
1 / 2 Water

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 1 hour and 30 minutes

WINE: Teroldego (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Chopped the carrot, the onion and the celery, place them in a pot with the extra virgin olive oil and cook them for about 5 minutes.
Add the meat and let it brown.
Then add the wine and let it evaporated.
Now add the tomato puree,
stir all together and add some water. Cook for about 1 hour and 30 minutes paying attention to don’t reduce too the sauce.

If necessary add some water or wine. In the meantime you can prepare polenta. In a pot of copper put the water and let it warm. Before water boils, sprinkle the maize flour into the water and begin to stir with a wood-spoon.


Continue to stir for about 40 minutes until polenta become thick.

Serve in a platter the polenta and bruscitti hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Polenta is a typical Italian recipe of the northern part of Italy. It is a dough made of water, salt and maize flour that is traditionally cooked in a copper pot for about 30-40 minutes.
There are different kinds of flour with which you can prepare polenta:
- yellow flour made of yellow maize
- white flour made of white maize or millet
- flour of buckwheat
- flour of beans mix with maize yellow flour
- flour of buckwheat mix with maize yellow flour used to prepare polenta called “Polenta Taragna”, typical of Valtellina, Brescia and Bergamo.
Polenta is an Italian recipe, typical of the autumnal and the winter period, that can be served with meat, fish, cheese, milk and many other Italian ingredients. In the following recipe it is explained the simple way to prepare polenta. The next time I will present typical Italian recipe made with polenta like polenta with mushrooms, polenta with stew, polenta with cheese, polenta with bruscitti, polenta with braised meat and many other.
I used to eat these good recipes not only at home, prepared by me or by my mum, but also in the Italian mountain hut after a long hike.









INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)
500 g of Maize flour
2 liter of Water
1 Tablespoon of salt

PREPARATION TIME: 5 minutes

COOKING TIME: 40 minutes

WINE: Cabernet delle Venezie (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
In a pot of copper put the water and let it warm. Before water boils, sprinkle the maize flour into the water and begin to stir with a wood-spoon.


Continue to stir for about 40 minutes until polenta become thick.


Serve it over a cutting board.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!