Cooking Polenta. Creamy Polenta with Italian 'Sausages' recipe

 

Above creamy polenta with pork sausage patties in a tomato sauce.

Above creamy Polenta with a ragu with pork sausage meat in a tomato sauce with Parmesan.

On Polenta

Polenta is an unusual ingredient to most of us, but common in Northern Italy, a staple that fills, a maize cornmeal, cheap and sold in an 'instant' version that's ready in minutes. Simply add an equal amount of water or stock and simmer for a couple of minutes, as per packet, and then served as creamy polenta. If you leave it then it will set and then can be fried and made into chips or wedges.

Creamy polenta really needs flavouring or it tastes of nothing much, usually I add tablespoons of a grated Italian cheese and lots of pepper, and instead of water I use stock, but in the lower pic I added a ladle of the ragu and it worked well flavouring the dish. Some recipes suggest adding a lump of butter and this would be correct if serving instead of mashed potatoes as a side.

In Italy creamy polenta is frequently served on a chopping board topped with some stew and a family dives in with forks and spoons (see elsewhere on this blog)  however to most people polenta is something they just don't get, they say, 'what is the point, what's wrong with mash?' 

And I think that is the point, there is nothing wrong with mash; it's a carrier for a savoury sauce of some sort, so is your pasta, so is your rice and so is polenta. It may take a few attempts for your family to start to like this grain but they will, oh and it's also ready super quick.

You can turn any pork sausages into Italian sausages by removing the sausage meat from the skin and adding some ground fennel seeds, some pepper, some chilli flakes and paprika, and then just mix.

Either make a sausage patty and fry or fry the sausage mix off, then remove and make a simple ragu, cook and add the sausage and simmer then serve as above over the polenta.

Enjoy