3 hours? who the hell has 3 hours to make polenta? ummm, me?
you see, i’m reading “heat” by bill buford. he’s the guy who was senior editor at ‘new yorker magazine‘ and left his job to work in batali’s kitchen at ‘babbo‘. there is a chapter in the book about a fund raising dinner that batali and his boys did here in nashville a few years ago – and he goes on about the polenta. but not just your everyday polenta, about perfect polenta and perfecting the art of making this batali perfected polenta. and well, perfection is my life…
anyway chapter 14 is all about buford’s quest to thoroughly understand not only how to make the dish, but the history behind it. buy the book. it’s a fun ride.
lamb shanks i can make. you salt them and then brown them in some olive oil. remove the shanks from the pot and add some chopped onions, carrots – and celery if you like. you let the vegetables cook for a solid 10 minutes and then i added a can of san marzano tomatoes, a bottle of red wine, the last of my dried bottarga, the last of my thanksgiving turkey broth (goodbye for now, i will miss you) and a handful of fresh thyme, salt and pepper. i think that was it. no real recipe here. then i added the shanks back and let it do its thing for 90 minutes or so. the shanks are then removed to prevent the meat from totally falling off the bone, the sauce is cooked down and then blended till smooth. it was quite good, most definitely in the ”what’s not to like” category. unless you hate lamb and then well, we can’t be friends because there is something terribly wrong with you.
but the polenta… it’s just 3 ingredients. as in salt and water – and the corn. and it seems that making good polenta is kind of like a metaphor for life. time improves it and it can’t be rushed. it will become what it needs to if you just tend the pot for about 20 minutes or so by constantly whisking and adding the necessary hot water until it can absorb no more - and then just leave it alone, coming by to give it a quick stir every 15 minutes or so. whereas risotto is needy but faster, polenta just wants to do its own thing, letting the heat almost caramalize the corn, releasing the depth of flavor. or so buford says. and batali told him. and i’m just assuming that they really know.
my polenta was moretti polenta – bramata, the coarsest grind. from an italian family that’s been grinding it since 1922 in the town of… yadda yadda yadda… and really? i dunno. it was good but even after 3 hours i didn’t think it was that different than other polenta i have made. the whole “perfect polenta experience” has evaded me but i am going to try again with a different brand. like next month.
but i gotta say, as you can see in the picture, our dinner could have really used a couple of brussels sprouts.
if only for color.
22 responses so far ↓
1 Diana // Jan 25, 2008 at 4:01 pm
A bottle of red wine. You’re my hero.
2 minimally invasive // Jan 25, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I had a craving for this very thing just last weekend, as you’ll see if I ever get around to posting about it. Keep us in the loop if you do find your perfect polenta. I’ve never tasted any that made my toes curl (except for whatever additions were stirred in).
3 jim voorhies // Jan 25, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I’m with Diana. A bottle of red wine (and onion) will improve everything. But I am one of those not big on lamb people. They’re soooo cute.
Three hours for polenta? You need more to do. Have you thought about editing another website
4 cookiecrumb // Jan 25, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Bottarga! In your braised lamb shanks! OMG. Not too aggressive, right? Just a fishy whisper.
Love your version.
5 TaratheFoodie // Jan 25, 2008 at 6:20 pm
I’ve been craving polenta lately, so I am completely drooooooooooooling over this post. That lamb looks SPECTACULAR. I can just smell it and I know it tasted rich and velvety as only lamb can. And to those people that don’t like lamb, I don’t like you either. Hi five!
6 claudia // Jan 25, 2008 at 7:28 pm
tara – the lamb really was very good and we like polenta around here – a lot…
cookie – you don’t even know it’s there. not even a fishy whisper – just a certain something can’t be named… anyway – it’s gone now and i’m not buying the dried stuff again. but it was kinda fun…
jim – hmmmm, ya think? hmmmm…
min – you’ll be the first to know!
diana – one whole bottle. yup! but it cooks down to nothing…
7 Alejandra // Jan 25, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Oh I love this! Braised lamb everywhere! I can’t eat polenta, but I would probably do this with a great roasted garlic cauliflower smash….mmm!
8 ponyboat // Jan 25, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I too am a member of the lamb is cute club, but I wanna take a BATH in that sauce!! Wowee!
9 Donald // Jan 26, 2008 at 2:57 am
You know, I can’t even find polenta any more. Whole Foods near me only has the one minute kind. I made some with a wild mushroom ragout, a post that has yet to be made, but if I cooked it for more than 5 minutes, I’d hate to see what would happen.
Now the lamb! That looks delish! It looks like you made light duty of a shank that can be a tough piece of meat. When in doubt, at least for me, add a mirepoix! Save me a bone for stock!!!!!
10 FrenchLaundryatHome // Jan 26, 2008 at 9:45 am
Color Schmolor. Get the green from the lime in your pre-dinner cocktail, I like to say.
This looks gorgeous — I love working with polenta and all the flarping and blorping noises it makes as it cooks.
Glad you’re enjoying Heat.
11 Butta Buns // Jan 26, 2008 at 10:13 am
The sauce and polenta almost look like a yin yang on the plate. If you had Brussels sprouts, you could have completed the look by placing them just so.
This looks incredible. Anything with lamb is aces in my book.
12 Dan // Jan 26, 2008 at 11:11 am
flarping and blorping is right! but three hours? longer than it takes to turn shanks from stringgy connective tissue hunks into lollipops of little lamb? gotta say, i find perfection more often in the glass of wine and the shank than i do in the polenta.
as for green, there’s mirepoix in there. somewhere in that rich, brick-hued goodness around the shank, vegetation exists. now if you’re talkin’ sprouts sauteed with a little bacon? we can revisit.
13 Meg // Jan 26, 2008 at 12:43 pm
What do you do with the leftover polenta (if there is any)? If you’re in and out of the kitchen, 3 hours of checking in now and then is not such a big deal, but I would think you would still make a pretty substantial batch.
14 Mary Coleman // Jan 26, 2008 at 12:53 pm
YUM! I’ve never met a lamb shank I didnt’ like!
15 melissa // Jan 27, 2008 at 1:03 am
I don’t hate lamb, but I don’t lurve it either. and the cute factor I am indifferent too. my husband likes the taste of the meat more than I do, so I roast a rack from time to time.
as for the polenta – I just bought my first package recently. now I just gotta figure out what to do with it. I don’t think I will do anything that takes three hours though. O_o
16 fluffernutter // Jan 28, 2008 at 12:11 pm
That whole perfect polenta thing eludes me too. I like polenta okay but no matter whose recipe or what brand, I’ve never had any that really stood out as being exponentially better than any other. Butter helps. I usually make polenta cakes because if it’s just polenta, the family make vomit faces.
17 Joan Auerbach // Jan 31, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Hello Claudia,
I see you are enjoying Buford’s book, Heat. What a great read! Does he not address some of life’s most wonderful adventures? The joy in cooking, in traveling, in eating, in learning — all wrapped up in one book! You and I, we’re actually going to be able to chat about this, and other things, on Feb. 13th! So looking forward!
Best, Joan
18 claudia // Jan 31, 2008 at 2:52 pm
i’ll take him over ‘eat, pray, love’, anyday…
19 Chris // Feb 4, 2008 at 1:56 pm
My maternal grandparents were Italian immigrants, and Gram made great polenta. I don’t think she ever cooked it for 3 hours, though. On one of the other entries, someone mentioned grilling theirs as it seized up. My mom and grandmother would do that with day-old polenta all the time.
20 claudia // Feb 4, 2008 at 5:34 pm
grilling polenta is a wonderful thing. i just love the stuff in any form.
in my next life i will be from italiam immigrants. or live in italy. either.
21 Food, Glorious Food » Blog Archive » lamb shanks with 3 hour polenta // Apr 28, 2008 at 4:19 am
[...] you see, i’m reading “heat” by bill buford. he’s the guy who was senior editor at ‘new yorker magazine‘ and left his job to work in batali’s kitchen at ‘babbo‘. there is a chapter in the book about a fund raising dinner that batali and his boys did here in nashville a few years ago – and he goes on about the polenta. but not just your everyday polenta, about perfect polenta and perfecting the art of making this batali perfected polenta. and well, perfection is my life…more [...]
22 foodie // Apr 28, 2008 at 4:50 am
Mmmmm…love lamb and a nice sauce to go with it…cant wait to try this one out.
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