In the Lombardy region, a region whose main city is Milan, there is a mountainous Northern area called Valtellina where a coarser, darker type of polenta is very used, due to the use of buckwheat flour, Grano Saraceno in Italian, mixed with maize flour, naturally glute-free and traditionally cooked with cheese and butter: this is polenta taragna.
For our mini Taragna Polenta flour cakes, we combined those ingredients typical of the mountainous areas of Lombardy, Polenta Taragna, Taleggio cheese and mushrooms.
Makes: 7-8 mini-cakes | Preparation time: 20 mins | Cooking time: 25-30 mins
- Mushrooms of your choice: 250 g
- Taragna Polenta flour : 250 g
- Taleggio or Gorgonzola cheese: 50 g
- Butter, unsalted: 40 g
- 2 garlic cloves
- Water: 300 ml
- Parmigiano cheese, grated: 1 tbsp
- Chopped Parsley, fresh: a bunch
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO): 2 tablespoons
- Salt: to taste
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C /350 F / Gas 4.
Clean the mushrooms with a kitchen cloth or mushroom brush – do not rinse them under running water or they will release water once cooked – use a knife to peel off the outer layer of the stalks. Cut the mushrooms into slices.
Heat two tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and brown the garlic cloves, then add the chopped parsley, then the mushrooms and fry until mushrooms are soft.
Cut the Taleggio or Gorgonzola cheese into cubes.
Bring water to the boil in a saucepan, then slowly add the polenta flour with a teaspoon of salt. Stir regularly for about 5 minutes, then lower the heat and add the butter. Stir healthy, then remove from the heat.
Take muffin moulds or even ceramic ramekins, butter them, then start filling them in layers: some polenta on the bottom, then mushrooms, then chunks of cheese, then polenta and so on until the mould is full.
Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes.
Once the mini polenta cakes are cooked, remove them from the oven and let them cool slightly before serving.
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