Comments on: Polenta

By: Virginia Fusi

Virginia Fusi — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 04:10:50 +0000

My husband’s family is from Bagolino, Italy. Which is in the far north in the Alps. The way that they used to fix it was originally using chestnuts, which they ground up. They used to make a hunters stew (rabbit) to go with it. They also made it by layering polenta, onions fried in a lot of butter and shredded cheese,(crumbled) which they told me was called terania. (Very good by the way). When we were there, they served it with Chianti (a red dinner wine) at room temperature.

By: AnnaMaria

AnnaMaria — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 10:50:31 +0000

My entire family is from Abruzzo and we all loved the polenta board with the delicious prizes in the center! To we children born in the USA, the polenta board was very exotic! Our Italian dishes were always so delicious and even as children we loved all of them. Polenta & gnocchi were Winter dishes we greatly anticipated each year. Grandma was the absolute most fantastic cook in the world and she made everything taste amazing, even tossed together leftovers! How I miss those days of family, food and fun. And love. Love surrounded us like a blanket and the jokes whizzed around like lightning! I’ll never forget those magical times.

By: S. Clementi

S. Clementi — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 04:19:27 +0000

My Nono would make parmesan polenta with mushrooms, poured out on a wooden slab and toped with mustard greens and garlic. I mean forget about it, absolutely the best best flavor ever.

By: Bryce Bertolino

Bryce Bertolino — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 19:28:26 +0000

Polenta and sage hen Cacciatore or shanks if a steer is what I remember from my Montana childhood. Some how incredible ravioli made it on the menu for holidays and risotto once a month.
I do remembet some pasta made out of Ketchup and chicken stock. This is true.

By: Tommaso Perinotti

Tommaso Perinotti — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 19:47:58 +0000

I have great memories of polenta, my Nonnie who lived with us would make fabulous dishes and polenta was a part of them. It brings me back to a house that was always fun. I didn’t realize it at the time but the quality of Italian food that was prepared at our house was unbelievable. You touched on a lot of memories with just one dish. Bless our parents and grandparents.

By: Carol

Carol — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 02:02:33 +0000

I smiled reading the posts about polenta on the table. My grandfather had a large piece of plywood kept wrapped in a sheet for those snowy winter days for a communal polenta meal.
Nonna would mound the meats from her gravy (sausages, meatballs, bracciole, pork chops, pork ribs, a chunk of beef) in the center of the ocean of polenta, and whoever ate a path to the meat first got first choice of the meats. I’m in my mid 60s now, and still make polenta the first snowy day of the winter, and a few more times throughout winter.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 00:12:05 +0000

This isn’t unique an Italian staple food. It’s has been in the native people of the American continent centuries before the european have arrived. So it was also in the African continent.

By: Tom Ward

Tom Ward — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 15:48:03 +0000

I’ve been eating polenta since I was a little boy, 50 years plus. I’ve see some make a big deal about the pot and wood spoon, some add starch with a potato. Living in the south, I’ve found a variety of cornmeal mixes and textures with which to make this. I have adopted the attitude that more flavor is better than less and use chicken stock as my liquid. Additionally, we add fresh herbs (thyme, basil, oregano, sage) and cheese (Parmigiano, Fontina, Romano, Asiago) to change things up.

I own a tall, round glass that was meant for beer. I grease the inside, and pack it with hot Polenta and refrigerate it. In about 45 minutes it comes out like a cylinder, and we slice off pieces and fry them in butter and serve them with chicken, a nice ragu, or, topped with thin sliced ham and an egg for breakfast. They’re easy to grill this way, too.

By: CJ Martello

CJ Martello — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 15:15:25 +0000

A couple of years ago it occurred to me that no one ever changed the string that was attached to the cutting board we used to slice the polenta–amazingly, we all lived!

By: Art C

Art C — Thu, 31 Oct 2019 14:42:09 +0000

My parents were from abruzzi and my brother and I were born in la marche. We had polenta in the winter. My mom would boil potatoes then rice them into the water she would then mix in the corn meal. It would make it much more dense but delicious. Sauce in the middle after it was poured onto the table.

By: Marie Laporta

Marie Laporta — Sun, 27 Oct 2019 01:08:47 +0000

What was sustaining for the poor has now become a delicacy for "foodies"! God bless the Italians

By: Angelina!! Buhaly

Angelina!! Buhaly — Fri, 25 Oct 2019 02:57:25 +0000

I thought our family was the only one that spread the polenta on the table!!! I still make raviolis...gnocchis & sauce...etc..yummm ..

By: Angelina!! Buhaly

Angelina!! Buhaly — Fri, 25 Oct 2019 02:47:39 +0000

We would always invite "friends " for polenta on the table..everyone would just get a fork, a glass of "Dago red" and toppings of Betty'' s sauce!! Then we all would dig in with all the left over toppings.... ending in the middle to make the "Boot of ITALY!!" It always stunned everybody!!!

By: Tony Traficante

Tony Traficante — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 22:06:14 +0000

My parents were from la Basilicata near Potenza. We ate polenta with tomato sauce once a week usually on Fridays. It was a weekly staple and a complete meal loved it. My wife whose family was from Friuli made as you and called it polenta e osse’, or uccelli. Her Grandma use to make it in a large metal pot that swung out from a large fireplace. Good stuff.

By: Ann

Ann — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 13:36:35 +0000

oh wow !! us, too! Grandpa always cooked the polenta and spread it on the board and grandma would put the sauce, cheese and either sausages or beef on top. Then, we’d all sit around the board, section off each of our own portions, say grace and then go to town! Some people thought the communal eating surface was not appetizing, including some Italians, but to me it was so special and so different, I loved it and still enjoy a good polenta board!!

By: Tom Capranica

Tom Capranica — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 00:16:30 +0000

My grandparents, aunts, would always make us polenta and spread it onto an old wooden board then shape it into the “boot of Italy “ where we’d all eat from……. delicious

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 22:33:23 +0000

After reading the last 2 posts, you are both sooooo right. I know my mother and father both prepared for us those rustic meals that they had always eaten when they were growing up. Even though they knew the meals were delicious and hearty, the stigma that they attached to these foods never allowed them to prepare or share them with friends. Now, I share them all because they are simply delicious.

By: Angela DeCarlo-Hurford

Angela DeCarlo-Hurford — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 20:54:51 +0000

hat is polenta?