comfort food: farinata, a polenta delight
WE CALL IT MUSH, my friend Marco and I do, but not in any disparaging way. When the night’s headed into the 20s and you’ve been out in the 40s raking all day (or it’s closer to zero and you’ve been shoveling snow), what you want is just that: stick-to-your-ribs warmth; comfort served in a big bowl, using a big spoon. More molten than soupy, farinata is pure peasant food–nothing more than cornmeal, water, and some kale or cabbage, brought to life with garlic, olive oil and Parmesan cheese.
farinata
USE KALE, cabbage or another green if you prefer, to make this Italian-style porridge that’s quick, filling and perfect for those of us who consider such things as soupy polenta to be comfort food—and also love garlic. (Count me in on both scores.) This recipe was inspired by something a friend scribbled down from the old public-television show “Cucina Amore.”
Other references call this farinata–the word just translates as porridge or gruel–Farinata di Cavolo Nero (or Farinata with Tuscan Kale). To confuse things, lately the term farinata is often used to refer to a thin, unleavened savory pancake of chickpea flour (also called a socca)…but here we’re in the cornmeal gruel business.
ingredients:
- ½ lb. kale or cabbage or mix
- 6 cups water or vegetable broth (if the broth is salted, or you like a lot of Parmesan, adjust salt below)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ¾ cup polenta (cornmeal); organic recommended to insure it’s GMO-free
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 4 cloves minced or grated garlic, or to taste
- ¼ to ½ cup olive oil (with extra for garnish)
steps:
Wash and chop the greens; I use a coarse chiffonade cut (above photo), removing the toughest stem bits first.
Meantime, bring salted water (see above note) or stock to a rolling boil.
Reduce heat, cover, and simmer the greens until barely tender, just a few minutes, in the water or stock.
Gradually whisk in the cornmeal.
Cook on simmer until creamy, about 10 minutes.
Fold in the garlic, cheese and the oil; remove from heat.
Serve immediately in bowls garnished with more oil and pepper. Serves three (or two with seconds). When eating alone, I halve the recipe, and it’s a heaping portion and then some.
For me, a big bowlful is a meal–perhaps with a salad. For guests who eat meat? Grilled Italian-style sausages would make a perfect side dish.
SamU says
Made this tonight–used fresh shredded asiago cheese–totally awesome!
margaret says
So glad you enjoyed it, Sam. Asiago is a good idea, I should try that as a variation. Nice to see you here!
Gina Buffum says
I used turnip greens, no salt, added ground pepper. We had it with Italian Bread. It was wonderful!
Lucie says
Ran out to my garden and cut some kale and chard and now have a bubbling pot of farinata on my stove. Yum!
Anna says
Sounds delicious. Can you use just regular cornmeal, or do you have to buy polenta. I love the idea of turnip greens. We grow tons of kale each year, but turnip greens blanched, frozen and then sauteed with olive oil and garlic is my new favorite green. Sounds wonderful.
Anna says
Just found polenta in the pantry and made it. Amazing how such a simple handful of ingredients can be turned into something so delicious, so quickly. Thanks for this recipe. Will keep it with me for the rest of my years. Perhaps you need to begin thinking about a cookbook!
Marian Grudko says
Hi Margaret,
This sounds divine. I love all the elements, but unfortunately can’t eat cheese. How do you think it would be if I made it without? Or can you suggest some other ingredient to substitute or compensate for no cheese? Thank you.
margaret says
Hi, Marian. I’d just stick with the garlic and greens and enjoy.
Brunella says
Oh my goodness,
I can’t wait to make this.
It reminds me of my paternal Grandma.
Thanks!
Sharon Giovacchini Johnson says
My dad’s mom, my Nonna used to make farinata from left over minestrone soup with beans and kale. The polenta would thicken the soup and when placed in a soup bowl to cool and refrigerate, it would solidify taking the shape of the bowl. Next day she would fry in with a bit of olive oil in a cast iron pan. Tuscan comfort food!
pat says
Yum ! I can not wait to try this ! It looks like a big bowl of comfort . The next storm is scheduled to come in tonight and I can be tucked in with good food and some wine !
Amy Hitzig says
Thank you for this recipe! I made this last night as our temperatures were dropping from
Amy Hitzig says
Thank you for this recipe! I made this last night as our temperatures were steadily dropping from 20’s to single digits following a gray snowy day. We thoroughly enjoyed it, so much that I reheated it this morning and served it with poached eggs nestled in it! Very satisfactory.
Jeanne says
Since I have garlic cloves from in season frozen in smallish portions in olive oil I threw LOTS of them whole in the boiling broth along with the chopped stems and cooked that a couple of minutes before proceeding with the recipe. At the end I just added some more of the garlic oil. So it was truly yummy garlicky:-D My husband loves things spicy so he added both black pepper and red pepper flakes to his bowl.
As a side note I ate the leftovers cold the next day as it was warm out, and that was just as good…so this will be an all seasons recipe for us.Thank you so much for sharing!
Chloe Smith says
hi Margaret, I used cabbage from my garden here in Savannah to make your corn meal mush. I put a little aside to sauté for breakfast tomorrow morning. Thanks for reminding me of this delicious treat!
Gina Wagner says
Did you mean the Dry Corn meal from the cardboard canister, or the tube shaped polenta sold in the refrigerator section of the supermarket??
Michael Quinn says
Hi Margaret. I’ve been a reader since the beginning, but this is the first time I’ve commented. This was such a wonderful recipe. Easy to prepare, and so flavorful. I’m really knocked out by it. Thank you so much for sharing–this, and everything else. “A Way to Garden” is a gem. I’m just sorry it’s taken me so long to tell you!
margaret says
You are very kind, thank you. I am grateful that my friend Marco recalled that old recipe years ago and showed it to me from that old old old TV show…and I have been enjoying it since.
Dorothy says
Hi, Margaret, I love this recipe, and I’ve been making it farinata since I first saw it on your site in March, 2013. I use Swiss chard (rainbow, or whatever’s in the market).
Adding the cornmeal works best if you add water to it first and stir. Then whisk into pot. It’s a wonderful, satisfying side or meal. Delicious!
margaret says
So glad you love it, too. It’s a “keeper,” right? So many new blog readers hadn’t seen it so it was nice to share again and see more people learn of it.
chandra Slavonic says
Any way to print out this recipe? I could not find a print button for this. I think having that ability to print your recipies would be wonderful.
margaret says
It’s on the list of new features to be done by spring — sorry meantime. What you can do if you are on a Mac as a workaround is make a screengrab (image) of the recipe …. and drag that image onto a Word document … or just highlight/copy and paste all the type into a Word doc on your desktop and save.