Polenta with veal sauce

 

 

No matter how hard it struggles, the sun can't warm us up, leaving no doubt about fall's arrival.  It is lunchtime on a Friday  and I feel depleted, in desperate need for comfort. Luckily, I work close to Sportello , a chic Italian lunch counter style restaurant in the Fort Point area of Boston. From salad to desert, everything I've eaten there has been outstanding. One time I ate a chocolate tart like no other. Rich intense chocolate topped with a few grains of salt and drizzled with olive oil. It was mind blowing! However, my  reason for going there on this Friday is their polenta. It is the only dish I want.

I ask for polenta with bolognese sauce which is not an option on the menu.  Bolognese sauce is typically served with tagliatelle  so eating it with polenta might make Italians cringe. But I don't care.  I love the two together.

 

In fact, I love this dish so much that I  decide to cook several variations of my own. One time I made it with 1/2 lb veal and 1/2 lb beef and black beans but without carrots and celery. The recipe I share below is not a bolognese sauce since bolognese combines several meat types.  The bolognese sauce also cooks for much longer than my instructions below. Pine nuts are another divergence in my recipe. You won't be able to taste the pine nuts but it gives the sauce a certain depth. I hope you have fun cooking and eating this dish! :)

Instructions for polenta are in the post from October 5, 2011.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons cooking oil (I use grape seed oil)
1 celery stick, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1/2 a medium onion finely chopped
1 lb ground veal or 1/2 lb ground veal and 1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup strained tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken stock or beef stock
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon pine nuts, crushed
1/3 cup milk

Method:

Heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion, celery, and carrot. Cook, stirring occasionally until vegetable are softened (about 10 minutes). Add the ground meat and break it up in small bits. Cook for about 15 minutes until the meat is cooked but not browned. Add the wine and let cook for about 10 minutes. While the wine is cooking, heat 1/2 cup strained tomatoes and 1/2 cup chicken stock. Add the bay leaf and the strained tomatoes and chicken stock mix.

Reduce the heat to low and let the sauce cook, stirring occasionally. Add the crushed pine nuts and the rest of the strained tomatoes about 30 minutes later.  If the sauce is too thick, add some water.  After about 1 hour add the milk and let cook for another 30 minutes.

Serves 4.

The sauce is good, even better, re-heated the next day.