Team Eats: TORINO – Polenta Concia

November 30, 2012

November 30, 2012

Derby time! For the first time EVER Juventus Stadium will host Torino F.C. for the Turin Derby, better known as the Derby Della Mole. Juventus fans have been waiting a long time for this derby, and thankfully Torino fought their way through Serie B last season to return to the top division. While last year’s regional derby with Piemonte club Novara was fun (Juventus won 2-0 at home) it’s great to have Juve’s burgundy-haired stepchild back in Serie A once again.

For the Piemonte Derby with Novara we made stuffed tomatoes for the home fixture and that rice and bean dish Paniscia Novarese for the away leg. But for this year’s Torino Derby we’re going to heat things up a bit.

I don’t know about your local temperature, but here in New York the weather has started to turn cold and I was in the mood to make polenta. You might remember the last time polenta featured on #TeamEATS, when we made it before an away trip to Bergamo for Atalanta. Juventus won that match with another 2-0 scoreline so clearly polenta is a good choice.

Andiamo!

Polenta Concia

Difficulty: Easy
Price: $7.00
Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• instant polenta
• water
• salt
• block of hard cheese (see below)
• grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• butter

For the cheese I went with a Gorgonzola from Piemonte, but any cheese from the region will do. You should be able to find a Piemonte cheese like Grana Padano, Taleggio, or Murianengo at your local store. And if not, just use any cheese you like!

Directions

1. Pre-heated oven for 180°C – 355°F. Grease a relatively deep oven-safe dish by lightly rubbing a stick of butter on the insides.

2. Cook the polenta by following the recipe on the bag. Mine called for 150g per liter of water, but as I don’t have a scale I estimated 300g to be a little more than half my 500g bag of polenta for 2 liters of water. This cooked in 3 minutes with constant stirring. Also, use as a big pot, because when the polenta boils it splashes pretty high. Let cool for a few minutes.

3. Cut the cheese into large but thin crumbles or blocks.

4. Pour half of the cooked polenta into the greased oven dish. Add half of the cut cheese in a thin layer of chunks with a sprinkle of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Cover that layer with the remaining polenta, and then add the remaining cheese cuts. Top with lots of grated cheese.

5. Bake in the pre-hreated oven for 15-20 minutes.

6. Consume. Imagine each delicious bite of warm, delicious polenta to be another dominating play by the boys in black’n'white as they break-in the Derby at Juventus Stadium with a glorious heart-warming victory.

This recipe was super easy and really tasty, though it still seems weird to me to eat polenta without a red sauce. Plus I really wanted to add onions, and I didn’t… I think some nice caramelized onions added in with the cheese would have been even better.

Perfect for a cold, snowy/rainy day, this recipe is simple to make and very enjoyable. Be sure to do your part and add this to your derby preparations for Saturday. Who’s ready for ‘da Bulls?

Mangiare è l’unica cosa che… Conte!

Back by popular demand, TeamEATS is a culinary guide to cooking and consuming the opposition. Each week, we pick a recipe from the home cuisine of Juve’s upcoming adversary, put on the kitchen apron and… cook it and eat it. Buon Appetito!