What Are You Tasting?

Out of the whole three course meal that I created, this Polenta with Ricotta (page 308) was by far the best. It had the big taste that I was looking for. Seemed to be the "most" Italian dish that I have created from The Silver Spoons - to date. After a quick crash course in polenta making (page 305), I was off and running. While this seems like a fast dish to create it actually took over 2 hours to prepare and cook. The polenta needs an hour to cook plus, 30 mins. to cool and form then an additional 20 in the oven. Even with the above time issue, this is a must to try! My family was raving about this dish which WILL be added to the Edna's meal rotation. I did make one addition to this recipe. As noted before about The Silver Spoon, there seems to be very few spices listed in this book for the Italian dishes. (odd?) I like my bold stand-up flavors and while stirring the red sauce I couldn't help but drop in a few pinches of oregano (dried myself :) into the red sauce. Below is the recipe as it appear in The Silver Spoon, feel free to add your own slant to it.

From: The Silver Spoon
Polenta with Ricotta

Ingredients:
scant 2 1/2 cups coarse polenta flour
1 1/3 cups ricotta cheese
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/3 cup pancetta, diced
11 ounces tomatoes, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons butter, plus extra for greasing
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
salt and pepper


Directions:
Prepare the polenta, pour it onto a counter or tray and let cool and set, then cut it into slices. Beat the ricotta in a bowl until smooth. Heat the oil in a small pan, add the onion and pancetta and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper according to taste and simmer for 30 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an ovenproof dish with butter. Arrange the polenta, ricotta, Parmesan and tomato sauce in layers in the prepared dish, finishing with a layer of polenta. Dot with the butter and bake for 20 -25 minutes.