Creamy polenta with radicchio and mushrooms
A warm and comforting wintery dish. Make it vegetarian by substituting the pancetta with raddichio
Ingredients
5 g dried porcini mushrooms (5 grams)
500 ml milk
500 ml vegetable stock
125 g polenta
6 slices pancetta or 1 radicchio
2 portobello mushrooms or 500 g mixed wild mushrooms
10 g fresh oregano
1 bunch winter purslane
50 g soft goat cheese
4 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
50 g butter
50 g grated Parmesan
Method
1
Put the dried porcini in a small bowl and add enough warm water to cover the mushrooms. Soak the porcini until they are soft. Put 30 ml of the soaking liquid aside. Finely chop the porcini. Cut the portobello into thin slices or wash and tear the wild mushrooms.
2
Place the milk and stock in a pan. Bring to boil. Stir in the polenta and cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes until the polenta becomes thick and creamy.
3
Heat a frying pan over medium heat and fry the pancetta for 2 minutes on each side. Remove them from the pan and place them on a plate. Alternatively, cut the raddichio in half, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill in a grill pan for 2 minutes on each side. In the frying pan over high heat, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan. Fry the portobello or wild mushrooms together with the porcini and half of the oregano for 2-3 minutes. Add the porcini soaking liquid and let it reduce slightly. Season with salt and pepper.
4
Put the mushrooms in a bowl and carefully mix in the winter purslane.
5
Stir the butter and grated Parmesan through the polenta and season with salt and pepper. Divide the polenta between 2 plates. Spoon the mushroom mixture on top and place the fried pancetta or grilled raddichio on top. Sprinkle with the crumbled goat cheese and the remaining oregano leaves. Drizzle over some olive oil over it and serve immediately.
Soft Polenta with Sausage Ragout
Serves 2
Ingredients
1 onion
1 garlic clove
4 salciccia or Italian sausages
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 chicken stock cube
1 tin tomato paste
2 sprigs rosemary
120 g quick cook polenta
75 g smoked cheese
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Finely chop the onion, garlic and rosemary leaves. Remove the skins from the sausages. Dissolve a quarter of the chicken stock cube in 100 ml hot water. Bring a pot with 300 ml water to the boil.
Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Fry the onion for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for a further 1 minute. Add 1 tablespoon tomato paste and fry for 1 minute. Add the sausage meat to the pan, breaking the meat up well with a wooden spoon. Fry for about 3-4 minutes. Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, the stock and rosemary to the pan. Bring to the boil and simmer gently, uncovered, for 8-10 minutes until the liquid has partially reduced.
Add the polenta to the pot of boiling water and cook gently, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes. Grate the smoked cheese; add to the polenta along with some salt and pepper.
Season the sausage ragout with salt and pepper. Divide the polenta between 2 plates and spoon over the ragout.
We, the Amsterdam Flavours chefs, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. If you have any questions on how to prepare it or just want to send us your feedback, you can reach us here Contact Amsterdam Flavours
Klik hier voor het recept in Nederlands.
Lemon Polenta Cake
We've decided to divulge the secret and publish the recipe of a cake that has become quite famous. It's sharp and tangy and it's gluten-free too!
Serves 10-12
Ingredients
400 g soft unsalted butter (plus extra for greasing)
400 g caster sugar
400 g ground almonds
200 g fine polenta
16 g baking powder
6 large eggs, beaten
zest of 5 lemons (save juice for the syrup)
for the syrup
juice of 5 lemons
250 g icing sugar
Method
Line the base of a 26cm springform tin with baking paper and grease the sides with butter.
Preheat the oven to 150°C
Beat the butter and sugar till pale and whipped, in a Magimix Patissier or freestanding mixer.
Mix together the almonds, polenta and baking powder and salt. With the machine running, add the eggs to the butter, a little at a time.
Add the almond and polenta mixture and blend the mixture well. Finally, beat in the lemon zest. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 60-70 minutes.
It may be slightly wobbly, but if the cake is cooked, a cake tester should come out cleanish and, most significantly, the edges of the cake will have started to shrink away from the sides of the tin. Remove from the oven to a wire cooling rack, but leave in the tin.
Make the syrup by boiling together the lemon juice and icing sugar in a small saucepan. Once the icing sugar’s dissolved into the juice, it's done.
Prick the top of the cake gently all over with a cake tester (or toothpick), pour the warm syrup over the cake, and leave to cool before taking it out of the tin. Serve in slices with whipped cream or creme fraiche.
We, the Amsterdam Flavours chefs, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. If you have any questions on how to prepare it or just want to send us your feedback, you can reach us here Contact Amsterdam Flavours