These last few days after Christmas we are enjoying the warmth of the family all together at my grandparent's house in a little village in the mountain, about 1 hour drive from the city. We are relaxing, other than spending time with parents, grandparents, auncles, aunts and cousins. And what's the best moment to share than the polenta making?!? Here polenta is a traditional meal, old and poor, but can be combined with other ingredients to make it richer and delicious. One of these variants is "polenta carbonera", a particular polenta made with the add of butter, typical local sausages and cheese. The result is a rich and complete meal, to eat together with just some vegetables. The procedure of making polenta is old and not as simple as it looks like. First of all, to make it to taste right, it has to be cooked on a wood fire. Here traditional homes have this wood fire for cooking in every kitchen, with the both function of heating the kitchen and cooking the meals. Nowadays it's always together with a gas or electric kitchen, but it's essential for the perfect polenta making! Then, the polenta has to be cooked in a copper pot and during the cooking it has to be mixed continuously with a wooden cookware. First salted boiling water and yellow polenta flour is mixed together. Afterwards it needs to be cooked for about 40 minutes, continiuously mixing. At the end of the cooking, some other ingredients can be added, like butter, sausages and cheese, all cut finely, and then all cooked for some more minutes, until well mixed.
