Polenta With Mascarpone

Polenta con mascarpone
From: "Giuliano Bulgialli's Foods of Italy" (1984)
Serves 8

3 qts. beef broth (preferably homemade)
1 lb. coarse or stone ground Italian yellow cornmeal*
2 tblsp. sweet butter (1 oz.)
8 heaping  tblsp. mascarpone
Coarse grained salt

Optional:  1 med. fresh or canned white truffle

Heat broth in large part over medium heat; when it boils, add salt to taste.  Begin pouring in cornmeal in a very slow stream, stirring continuously with flat wooden spoon [carefully, otherwise polenta will quickly become lumpy].  Stir slowly for 45-50 min,* w/o stopping.  If lumps form, push them against side of pot to crush with spoon.

Use the butter to lightly butter the dinner plates.  Put 1 heaping tblsp. of mascarpone in center of plate.  Refrigerate until needed.

When polenta is cooked, taste it for salt** and then remove pot from heat.  Immediately ladle polenta over the cheese on the prepared plates.  The polenta should cover the cheese completely.

Optional:  If fresh truffle, clean carefully with brush to remove sand.  Use truffle cutter [Foxxy: *eyeroll*] to slice truffle over the polenta on the plates.  "The dish is most beautiful when it is cut through to reveal the different colors of the white and yellow layers and the soft tan of the truffles."

Serve immediately.

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Notes not in original recipe:

* You can shortcut by using a "quick" polenta cornmeal -- just as there are quick grits and regular grits.  If you are reducing the recipe the cooking time is accordingly reduced.  Constant stirring still required, though.

** You could also add fresh herbs, garlic, chopped spinach, etc. to the polenta immediately before plating

/goes to Goodwill to look for a "truffle cutter"  -- at my house they are called "knives"