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POLENTA DINNERS
Thursday
and Friday, October 22 - 23, 2009
 We frequently
get the request to repeat a special dinner we offered in 2006 to
celebrate polenta. Just last month, we harvested Trentino Red Flint
corn grown here in California, which definitely merits a whole new
polenta celebration.
Polenta is a meal meant to be eaten
communally. Traditionally, corn porridge was cooked on the fire in a
paiolo (copper pot), poured out onto a wood board, formed
into a firm, rounded cake and set in the middle of the table. La
Polenta is served with simple to exalted ingredients that run
the gamut from saucy meats, poultry and wild game, vegetables,
mushrooms, fish stew, to olive oil and cheese. Following in the
tradition, we will offer wooden boards with a round of polenta for
each table sufficient for the size of the party, with a variety of
accompaniments from which to choose.
Menu For Polenta Dinners
~ 2009
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Antipasti
Insalata di carne
cruda of Watson Farm lamb loin,
Chanterelle mushrooms, and
Parmesan cheese
Salad of fall fruit: apples, pears, figs,
grapes, and
pomegranates with walnuts and aceto
balsamico
Last-of-the season Dirty Girl Farm dry-farmed
Early Girl
tomatoes, green olives, pine nuts, and
thyme
Shaved salad of Brussels sprouts, Regina olive
oil,
Pecorino Romano cheese, and black pepper
Oliveto
salumi
Garden lettuces
vinaigrette
Polenta Offerings
served on
wooden boards for the table
'Floriani Red Flint'
(Rominger Brothers, Joseph's Best)
Yellow Dent (Joseph's Best
and Central Mill)
Polenta di noccioli (Yellow Dent
and hazelnut flour)
Polenta torta with either
FontinaVal d'Aosta or Crescenza cheese
Polenta
Accompaniments
Lepre in civet alla
Piemontese: juniper-braised wild hare
finished with
chocolate and Cognac
Charcoal-grilled spiedini of
Paine Farm pigeon and
Hoffman Farm quail with red wine giblet
sauce
Jones Farm rabbit braised with Cipolline onions and
vin santo
Spezzatino of Watson Farm lamb
alla cacciatora with anchovies and rosemary
Stew of
spicy Willis pork, wild fennel, and farro sausages
with
pork skin rolatine
Arrosto morto of Bill
Niman Ranch turkey
with sunchokes and aged aceto
balsamico
Scaloppine of Magruder Ranch milk-
and grass-fed vitellone
with Valdostana cheese
fondue
Sauté of Morrow Bay spot prawns, Oliveto smoked salt
cod,
and Mediterranean mussels alla
siciliana
Liberty duck leg confit alla
veneziana with fresh shelling beans
Braised artichokes
with tomato, garlic, and parsley
Roasted Corno di Toro
peppers bagna cauda with walnuts
Romanesco broccoli
and cauliflower with Castelmagno cheese
Ragoût of
roasted Red Kuri squash and wild
mushrooms
Plates
Polentina with green
vegetables
Polenta pasticciata with wild boar
ragù and cavolo nero
Gnocchi di polenta
taragna with Savoy cabbage,
pancetta, sage, and
Taleggio cheese
Stradette: Piedmontese cornmeal
pasta with
roast Hoffman Farm hen, pancetta, and
sage
In the 1970s, most regional corn varieties in
Italy were lost as more people turned to an industrial raised corn.
This Italian Red Flint corn, we call Trentino, came from a family
garden in Trento and was discovered by our friend William Rubel, a
food historian. We think this particular Red Flint corn originated
in the Caribbean.
Anson Mills in South Carolina grew out the
first crop in 2006. It was milled fresh, kept cold, and air
expressed to Oliveto for our first Polenta Dinners. Our
relationships William Rubel and Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills, along
with this initial foray into growing and milling corn, quickly
evolved into our first meeting at Oliveto to explore the possibility
of establishing a grain economy here in Northern California. This
year's batch of corn, grown for us in Woodland, CA by the Rominger
Brothers, is from seed provided by William. It was harvested on
September 15, 2009.
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