Want to try something different for dinner on a cold winter evening, then make creamy cornmeal polenta served with Bavarian mushrooms and blood sausage. As you may have guessed, blood sausage is made with pig's blood along with bits of organ meats plus barley or rice which are necessary fillers or catalysts.
In Italy, regional varieties of blood sausage are known as 'sanguinaccio'. In Tuscany, buristo is a sausage made with pig's blood and fat cooked in a pig's stomach. Variants are found worldwide. Pig, cattle, sheep, duck, and goat's blood can be used, varying by country. In Kenya, fillers include fresh minced goat or beef, fat, and red onions.
You may ask, why would anyone want to eat barley and blood mixed together and put into a casing? Well, the answer its simple food; and, that means its a fast and frugal dinner that is filling and very tasty. Today, many people don't know that you can eat almost every part of an animal for food. At least, folks did for many years as a means of being frugal.
Polenta -
2 tbs of olive oil
one whole onion chopped
2-4 cups of chicken stock
2 cups of yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan
4 tbs of butter or 1/2 stick
Heat oven to 350F. On the stove, saute your onion in the olive oil in a deep oven safe pot until browned on all edges; then, add your stock (2 cups thicker) and 5 cups of water. Heat to boiling on high and slowly whisk in the cornmeal. Then cover and bake for 45-50 min.with an occasional stir - about every 10 min. Remove from the oven, add the butter and Parmesan for one last stir, then let it set covered.
Keep in mind that the polenta (made earlier) can be kept warm in the oven on low heat in a double boiler: one oven safe pot with the polenta sitting inside a wider oven safe dish filled with enough water to cover the bottom.
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