Polenta recipe with spare ribs and sausage on tomato sauce.

This is what I cooked last Sunday for me and my husband. If you don’t know what Polenta is, it is a cornmeal boiled into a porridge. The sauce is made using cheap cuts of meat such as spare ribs and sausages,tomato,carrot,onion and celery. Polenta with spare ribs and sausage sauce is one of those recipes you eat when you want a meal to look yummy, taste delicious and be healthy and you can use it as a special treat when you have a lot of people coming by to your house.

If you want to make this dish for a special occasion with your family or simply cook it for yourself (because… why not :)) you will need:

Recipe for 2 persons

125 gr of Polenta

50 gr of Parmesan (or cheddar)

250 gr of spare ribs

250 gr of sausage

1 can of peeled plum tomatoes

5-8 leaves of Basil

1/2 glass of  dry white wine

1 small onion

1 small carrot

1  stalk of celery

Salt

Oregano

Paprika

Hot chili (optional)

Preparation:

I used the pressure cooker to cook the sauce because it is healthier (as the meat will cook faster in less time and won’t need any oil added) but you can use a normal cooking pan ( it will just take longer).

First of all,  chop the onion, carrot and celery and put them in the pressure cooker, then add the spare ribs, the salt, oregano, paprika ( if you don’t use the pressure cooker but a simple cooking pan put the salt after the meat is cooked otherwise it will be tough).

Turn the heat on a medium heat (but no lead on yet) and cook everything together stirring every now and then until the meat is brown in both sides ( I don’t use any oil because the spare ribs has its own fat which will melt and replace the oil), after add the wine and let it evaporate, after that add the tomato can, 4 glasses of water, add the basil leaves, put the pressure cooker lid on and let all the ingredients cook for about 17 minutes from the moment the pressure regulator starts to rock ( if you use the normal cooking pan it will take at least one hour for the meat to cook).

After 17 minutes add the sausages to the sauce and meat and put the lid again for another 10 minutes,after that turn the heat off and let the sauce rest.

Meanwhile, take a boiling pan add 700 gr of water let it boil and then slowly add the Polenta (corn flour)  while stirring with a wooden spoon until it has the right consistency, it will be ready in 5 minutes after that, add the grated cheese, a bit of salt and mix very well. Please make sure that once the Polenta is ready put it immediately on the plate as it becomes dense (  it replaces the pasta or bread in this dish). After add the sauce  on the top and it is ready to taste.

Thank you for reading this recipe, if you have any suggestions or questions please let me know! 🙂