🫕 Simple Valtellinese Polenta – Traditional Recipe with Yellow and Buckwheat Flour
Polenta is one of the most iconic dishes of the Valtellinese peasant tradition. Made with just a few simple ingredients – flour, water, and, if you like, a touch of stale bread – it is the queen of the winter table 🏔️. Served steaming on a large wooden table, the “basla”, it is perfect on its own or accompanied by cheeses, cold cuts, or meat sauces. In this basic version, you will find all the warmth of the old kitchen, when food was cooked in a cauldron and hearts were warmed too ❤️
📝 Ingredients (for 6 people)
- 4 liters of water
- 1 kg of mixed flour (yellow and black, or just yellow or just buckwheat)
- 1 stale roll (optional, for a softer polenta)
- Salt to taste
👨🍳 Step-by-step Preparation
- Prepare the water:
- In a large cauldron, preferably copper, pour the 4 liters of water.
- Add a generous pinch of salt and the crumbled stale bread.
(The bread is a traditional trick to make the polenta softer and tastier.)
- Pour in the flour:
- When the water reaches a boil, start sprinkling in the flour gradually.
- Immediately stir with a whisk to avoid lumps.
- Cooking the polenta:
- When the mixture becomes thicker, continue stirring with the classic wooden stick, the “tarài”.
- Cook for 40-50 minutes, stirring regularly.
- The polenta will be ready when it begins to pull away from the sides of the cauldron and a golden crust forms on the bottom.
- Serving:
- Pour the steaming polenta onto the “basla”, the traditional wooden cutting board of Valtellina.
- The crusts left in the cauldron, crispy and golden, are a real treasure! Absolutely to be eaten, even better than cookies 😄
📸 The image of the dishes is purely indicative and may not necessarily correspond exactly to the recipe
