Polenta con Taleggio
Polenta with Taleggio Cheese
Polenta - cornmeal mush - is a staple in Lombardy. It's cheap, highly caloric food that keeps you warm in what can be a very cold environment. It was also a staple among first and second generation Lombard immigrants to Argentina, my home country, where to have polenta means to be very strong. My mother remembered eating polenta every Sunday when she was growing up, often accompanied by a type of stew.
My own memories of polenta place me in my grandfather's daily dining room, just off the kitchen, with him serving from a large pot. I remember my grandfather very fondly, but not the polenta itself. It was hard, dry and tasteless, only made bearable by the long, string cheese that oozed from parts of it. I do remember mostly not wanting to eat it.
My mother herself wasn't greatly fond of polenta, and I don't ever remember her making it for us. It wasn't until it became a common side dish in American restaurants, back in the 1990s, that I went back to eat it when it was served. I rather like it. The American (and Lombard) version is far creamier than my grandfather's, and it's a great medium for all sorts of sauces and stews. I made grilled polenta once before, but I had never made the soft kind as it turns out I am the only one in my family who likes it. Still, I couldn't leave Lombardy without trying my hands at it.
I found a recipe for polenta with gorgonzola in one of my cookbooks, but I wanted something closer to what my grandfather used to make. I couldn't exactly match the Argentine queso mantecoso which he used to a Lombard variety and I'm thinking this is probably because adding this cheese was actually an Argentine innovation. The closest I could come to was taleggio, which was described as a soft, creamy cheese. It is, but it's actually closer to Camembert in flavor (or at least, so was the one that I found at Whole Foods, the only store around me that carried it). This did not really make it suitable for the polenta, as the flavor was too strong and to bitter to enjoy in this manner. The rosemary I used probably didn't help matters.
The polenta itself, on the other hand, came out very well. It was very creamy, tasty by itself (sorry grandfather), and I think would have been enjoyable with some grated cheese on top, or a milder soft cheese. I used Bob's Red Mill yellow corn polenta.
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Polenta con Taleggio
Ingredients
- salt
- 1 sprig of rosemary or 1/2 tsp dried rosemary (optional)
- 1 spring of thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme(optional)
- 1 cup polenta
- 1 - 2 Tbsp butter, room temperature
- 6 oz Taleggio cheese, cut into small cubes
Directions
Bring 3 cups of salted water to boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the optional rosemary and/or thyme. Once the water is boiling, slowly stir in the polenta. Lower heat to low and cook, stirring frequently, until it's creamy - about 4 to 5 minutes.
Transfer the polenta to a serving dish. Add the butter and cheese and mix until melted. Serve.
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Adapted from a recipe at La Vie dei Sapori
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