I cannot get enough of Risotto. It is very tasty in autumn with mushrooms, in winter with squash and other root veggie delight, and with the summer bounty of  peas, strawberries, summer squash etc. it is a staple in my house in summer, too. Today's risotto recipe sports ramps and morels - a celebration of the first spring greens! Fancy some foraging?

We are using the Carnaroli rice from Nicoletta & Fabio for this dish, because it is the real deal. Carnaroli is the king of rice – every Chef in Italy cooks risotto with Carnaroli rice. The reason Arborio is so often quoted in cookbooks is that Carnaroli yields very little and was not exported for a long time.

Ingredients (4 servings)

2 cups of Fabio’s & Nicoletta's Carnaroli Rice from The Scrumptious Pantry

10 pc. ramps

1 lb. morels

½ cup white wine

6 cups broth (vegetable or chicken)

1/2 stick butter

1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1 tsp. chilli pepper flakes

Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil from The Scrumptious Pantry

Salt & pepper to taste

Method

(1) Choose a low-rising and wide pot – you want to give the risotto lots of room to absorb the liquid evenly! (2) Sauté the cleaned morels in some butter and olive oil and set aside (3) Sauté the diced white part of the ramps together with the chilli pepper flakes in a little butter and olive oil (4) Add the rice and sauté until it becomes translucent (5) Add wine, stirring until the liquid is totally absorbed (6) Add ½ cup of hot broth at a time, letting the rice absorb the liquid, stirring every 3-4 minutes. (7) After about 15 minutes (the rice should be almost done), turn off the heat, add the morels, chopped ramp greens, remaining butter and the parmesan cheese, stir well and let sit with lid of the pot closed for another 3-5 minutes (8) Salt & pepper to taste

Updating...

Who doesn’t like baked pasta?  Its so easy and delicious. One of our new Midestern-farmed products, Michelle & Kevin's Heirloom Tomato Sauce w. beef, rovides an excellent base for your baked pasta creations.  It would be delicious with some wilted greens or sautéed mushrooms added to it.  And the cheese combinations you could come up with, oh my!  Initially I wanted to put taleggio in the casserole, but some of you might find it a bit funky, so we went with mild and fresh.  But for you cheese lovers out there, this sauce can definitely stand up to some stronger flavors.  Never be afraid to experiment!  Next time maybe add some swiss chard and goat cheese, or roasted portobelli and taleggio.

Ingredient (makes four people happy)

250g Carlo's Durum Wheat Conchiglie Pasta, cooked al dente in salted water

16 oz jar Michelle & Kevin's Heirloom Tomato Sauce w. beef

16 oz can tomato puree

4 oz ricotta

4 oz fresh mozzarella, small dice

4 oz fresh spinach (optional)

8”x 8”x 3 1/2” casserole dish

Method (1) In a separate saucepan heat Michelle & Kevin's Heirloom Tomato Sauce w. beef  and tomatoes together until simmering. (2) Stir in some fresh spinach if you like. (3) In a big bowl combine sauce and ricotta. Mix well. (4) Toss with cooked pasta and half of the mozzarella. (5) Pour into casserole dish. (6) Top with the rest of the mozzarella and bake in a 425° F conventional oven until cheese is golden brown (check after 10 minutes).

PS. read more about the great work Michelle and her family are doing at Dietzler Farm here. And we are pretty proud of this piece by the Chicago Sun-Times, too!

Food brings families and friends together, and so do the holidays. In this spirit, I have asked Nicoletta & Fabio to share a story about Christmas in their family and what role food had in the celebration. Fabio’s father – Aldo – was so kind not only to share his memories of Christmas in the late 40s in the Italian countryside, but also one of the family’s traditional Christmas dishes: Risotto w. Chicken liver. Read on, enjoy and happy holidays!

I was growing up after the Second World War, and the predominant memory of winter is the cold. The cold was icy and crept into our house, our clothing and our bones. The only heated room was the kitchen with the wood fired oven, and some of the warmth escaped into the adjacent living room, where the family gathered, further warming the room with their bodies. The beds were icy, so mother would heat tiles in the open fire and used them to warm your beds 30 minutes before we were supposed to go to sleep.

With all the hardship we suffered through in those winters, Christmas Eve was pure magic. This was long before Christmas trees had found their way into the living rooms of Italian families. Our tradition was build around the Nativity Scene. Every family had their treasured collection of little statues and figures; every year they gathered on a bed of moss we children had collected in the woods. A piece of silver colored paper turned into a creek and pebbles and stones came together to form the cave which cows and donkeys called their home. On Christmas Eve, before going to bed, we would gently take the little Baby Jesus figure and put it to sleep in the tiny hay filled crib, guarded by Mary and Joseph. The three wise men were still positioned afar in a pool of sand and every day, they would be moved closer to the crib, until their arrival on January 6th.

Christmas morning was pure bliss! We would fly out of bed to see which gifts Baby Jesus (not Santa!) had brought. Maybe a slingshot done by Sig. Tadi - famous for his craft? Or a construction kit of metal wires, tubes, screws and beams? Or maybe even a bat to play “lipa”, an Italian version of baseball? And of course there were the precious sweets and fruits we only enjoyed once a year, at Christmas: nougat, caramels, mandarin oranges or even peanuts!

All family members would gather at the home of the grandparents for the celebration and the holiday feast. I always remember the taste of my grandmother’s special dishes: A broiled capon as “secondo”. As antipasto we would dip vegetables into warm, oily “bagna cauda” (garlic and anchovies dissolved in warm olive oil), munch on homemade salame and snack on the pickled bell peppers my grandfather was famous for. We were even allowed to have a sip of red wine, which Grandfather would strictly ration as if it were pure gold. The “primo piatto” to be enjoyed before the main dish, was a capon liver risotto. It is a simple dish, but mighty tasty and I am happy to share it with you, as it is still served at my family's Christmas table year after year.

Ciao da daddy Aldo

Grignasco, novembre 2010

Nicoletta's & Fabio's Family Christmas 2009: Nicoletta is the third from the right (holding her and Fabio's son Federico), Aldo is dressed up as Babbo Natale (Santa Claus), with his grandson Lorenzo. Far left: Fabio's Mum Fulvia, on the right Fabio's sister Leila holding baby Sofia, behind her her husband Francesco.

Chicken Liver Risotto

(We adapted this recipe slightly to US cooking styles. As a capon is a rooster castrated for better taste, we prefer to suggest liver from a happy, pasture raised chicken in the spirit of humanely raised livestock)

1 cup of Nicoletta’s & Fabio’s Carnaroli Rice

3.5 cups chicken stock, hot

1 small onion, finely sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil

8 oz. Chicken liver, chopped

3.5 tbsp butter

1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

2 tbsp chopped parsley

Salt & pepper to taste

serves 4

Method

(1) Sautee’ the onions and garlic in Cosimo’s EVOO. (2) Add the rice, stir to coat and cook till the rice is slightly toasted. (3) Add 1 cup of hot chicken stock, stirring well over medium-low heat. (4) Once the liquid has evaporated, add the remaining chicken stock ½ cup at a time, stirring every 3-4 minutes. (5) In a separate pan, heat the butter over medium-high heat until foamy. (6) Add the chopped chicken liver and sautee’ until they are nicely browned, but still pink in the center. Be careful not to overcook! (7) When the rice is almost al dente (ca. 15 min. into the cooking process), add the liver, parmigiano, parsley and stir well. (8) Let rest with the heat turned off for ca. 4 minutes. (9) Salt & pepper to taste and serve in warmed plates.

Recommended wine pairing: Barbera d’Asti

When I was growing up, deviled eggs were served as a the protein component to our sandwich dinners from time to time, following the classic recipe that had been passed down to my mum through her Czech family roots: eggs, mustard, capers, anchovies. Although I liked them, they never made my list of my favorite foods. If Mum asked me what I wanted for dinner, you could bet that I would request bacon pancakes, but no deviled eggs. (German style pancakes and no – they are nothing like the German pancake sold at the International House of Pancakes. Never saw anything like that in Germany). But I never had a soft spot for boiled eggs, either. Guess I am just a frittata kind of girl.

So why oh why did visions of deviled eggs suddenly form in my mind when I started reading one of my favorite new cookbooks, Amanda Hesser’s “The Essential New York Times Cookbook”? Maybe it was the descriptions in the recipe for deep fried deviled eggs (it calls for first filling the egg halves, putting them back together, breading the egg and then frying it)? Or was it the image of a summer picnic appearing before my inner eye as I learned that the deviled egg originated as a picnic food? (Of all things! Who would take a delicately filled deviled egg on a road trip?!) Winter has arrived and the thought of a summer picnic felt kind of comforting. Plus, is there is no doubt that deviled eggs make a mighty good finger food at the upcoming holiday parties.

And this is how this deviled egg with an Italian twist was conceived! Roberta’s Eggplant Spread takes center stage here. Being a blend of eggplants, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, oregano and chili peppers it has so many great taste components, that preparing this deviled egg is easy as 1-2-3.

Enjoy the holiday preparation frenzy, share great food and moments with your friends & family and please make sure you are buying your eggs for this dish from your trusted farmer that raises the chickens on pasture.

Ingredients

6 eggs, hard boiled

1 3/4 tbsp red onion, finely chopped

5 tbsp Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil “blend”

2 1/2 tbsp Roberta’s Eggplant Spread

1 ½ tsp white wine mustard

½ tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

oregano for decoration

Method

(1) Cut eggs lengthwise into halves and gently take out the egg yolk. (2) Mash the egg yolks with a fork and mix in onions, Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Roberta’s Eggplant Spread, mustard and lemon juice. Let sit for 15 minutes. (3) Adjust lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste. (4) Fill the empty egg whites and add spring of fresh oregano or sprinkle with dried oregano.

You can prepare the filling a day ahead and assemble eggs before serving them. Make sure to keep everything well refrigerated!

Ever wondered what the secret to a deliciously juicy turkey is, no matter the long roasting time? The secret is to brine it! The brine has two effects on the meat of this flavorful bird: the salt breaks down the proteins and it infuses liquid into the meat. You can go with a simple salt brine, or use the occasion to infuse your turkey with some seasoning, too. There are many fancy recipes: you can blend cranberry juice with your brine, or wine, add citrus… see http://allrecipes.com//HowTo/brining-turkey/Detail.aspx for some ideas. We suggest an easy & tasty brining solution that takes no time to prepare. We are using Roberta’s & Giulio’s Coarse Roasting & Grilling Salt – it contains juniper berries, rose peppercorns, rosemary, sage, bay leaf, thyme and tarragon, which is a great flavor profile for your Thanksgiving Turkey. Thanks to the love Roberta & Giulio poured into this salt, it is extremely flavorful: their estate grown organic herbs were minced by hand while still fresh, so the essential oils are sealed into the salt.

You can brine a 14lb. turkey from eight – 16 hours, but note that the saltiness of the meat increases with the brining time. So if this is the first Turkey you are brining, we recommend you choose a shorter brining time, no one wants a too salty turkey at Thanksgiving! And take the saltiness of the meat and the drippings into consideration when seasoning the bird and the sauce!

Having a recipe that works for first time briners was our main intention. If you are an experienced turkey briner and want to use more salt and a different brining time, consider that a jar of the Coarse Salt equals approx. 3/4 cups of sea salt.

Ingredients

For a Turkey of about 14lb. plan with 2 gallons of brine:

2 gallons of cold water

1 jar of Roberta’s Coarse Roasting & Grilling Salt

1/2 cup kosher salt

5 lb of ice cubes

Make sure you have a very large container/bucket!

Method

You should prepare the brine ahead and refrigerate it, to make sure it is cold (to eliminate the risk of bacteria).

To prepare the brine, combine two quarts of water with Roberta’s Coarse Roasting & Grilling Salt and the kosher salt. Over medium-high heat bring to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally, so the coarse salt dissolves. Cool the brine and refrigerate.

When you are ready to brine the bird, in a large bucket mix the cold brine, the remaining cold water and ice cubes (again, we want to eliminate the ground for bacteria). Make sure the innards are removed from the Turkey when you immerse it in the brine (breast side down). You can press the bird down, if necessary. Cover and refrigerate.

At the end of the brining time, take the Turkey out of the brine, rinse it briefly with cold water and pat it dry. Then follow your favorite recipe for roasting the bird. Note that a brined Turkey will cook approximately 30 min faster, so watch the internal temperature!

Following the concept of eating with one’s eyes, I first bought quinoa because the red seeds looked fun and I thought they would be an attractive addition to my home baked bread. Sure, I had heard about how healthy it was, but I never buy anything because it is healthy. I buy food because it tastes good and is real and satisfies body & soul. And then a whole new world opened up. Quinoa seeds steamed or cooked are just delicious and there are so many uses to cook with them – any given time of the day. They are a perfect start of the day mixed with fruits for breakfast and great in a savory dish, too. This fall salad has a little sweet twist from apples and roasted pumpkin and is tasty with all sort of seasonal greens, such as chard and beet greens. Fennel is also a possible addition. Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil “Blend” with its robust character gives a great kick as a finishing touch.

Ingredients:

1 small Delicata Squash

3 tbsp Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil “Blend”

3 tsp Roberta’s Fine Roasting & Grilling Salt

2 cups cooked Quinoa

1 medium sized Jonagold apple

1 small red onion

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp Cinnamon

Salad greens or chard/beet greens

Method: (1) Cut seeded squash into bite size cubes, toss with 1 tbsp Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil and 1 tsp of Roberta’s Fine Roasting & Grilling Salt, and roast till tender, let cool (2) Finely slice apple and dice onion (3) Mix cooked quinoa, roasted pumpkin, sliced apples and onions (4) Add vinegar, season w. remaining Roasting & Grilling Salt and cinnamon (5) Mix well and let stand for 30 min (6) Wash greens, cut roughly and toss into quinoa salad (7) Drizzle Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil over each serving.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a wold of flavor in itself. And it can bring a world of flavor to other dishes, savory and sweet. In Italy I got used to baking with Extra Virgin Olive Oil - one of my favorites is a light spongecake made orange juice and EVOO. So now that I am on the other side of the ocean, where local oranges in winter are rare and the cold screams for higher calorie count, I wondered about chocolate brownies. So I paired Cosimo's nice peppery Extra Virgin Olive Oil with unsweetened chocolate, added some smoked sea salt and pink peppercorns for an extra luxurious treat. The texture of this brownie is more on the lighter side, like chocolate cake. If you like your brownie all gooey and dense, you can incorporate EVOO and pink peppercorns into your favorite brownie recipe. The suggested "conversion rate" from butter to Extra Virgin Olive oil is ¾ cup of olive oil for one cup/two sticks of butter. When working with dark chocolate make sure you choose a robust EVOO to stand up to the taste of the chocolate!

Have you ever baked with Extra Virgin Olive Oil? What is your favorite recipe?

Pink-Peppercorn Brownies

Ingredients

4 eggs

8 oz. unsweetened chocolate

3/4 cup Cosimo's Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup raw sugar

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp smoked sea salt

1 tbsp pink peppercorns

Method: (1) Beat egg yolks and sugar (2) Add Cosimo's Extra-Virgin Olive Oil and melted chocolate (3) In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until they are stiff (4) Add 1/3 of the flour and baking powder (5) Fold parts of the egg whites under the batter (6) Repeat mixing in flour & folding in egg whites till all the ingredients are incorporated (7) Add salt and the crushed pink peppercorns (8) Line a baking sheet with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, fill with the batter and bake in a 375F oven for about 40 minutes if using a 8x8 pan. That will give you fairly high brownies. If you use a larger pan, reduce the baking time to about 20 minutes.

You can glaze the donuts with chocolate-EVOO and sprinkle them with a little coarse sea salt & crushed peppercorns for decoration - melt the chocolate and mix in 1tsp of EVOO for every 1 tbsp of melted chocolate.

I remember the first time I tasted fresh Extra Virgin Olive Oil the day I arrived at the Tuscan vineyard that was going to be my home for five years. I was blown away. I even coughed a little bit, as its pungency caught me by surprise. This was nothing I had ever tasted before. Immediately, I was won over. Here and there, I fell in love with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and its contribution not only to our health, but how it can add flavor to the dishes. A drizzle of good quality, robust Extra Virgin Olive Oil on soups, stews, grilled meats or fish is now a must in my kitchen. Back at Cosimo's vineyard, we ended up bottling three different Extra Virgin Olive Oils from our 1,000 trees (as approximation: 1 tree = 1 liter of EVOO). It was a lot of work for only a few bottles, but the character of the oil really changed dramatically from one part of the land to the other. The Premium Blend became the finishing oil, starting a little more on the delicate side and then developing to a whirlwind of taste expressions on the palate. The Blend is a great robust oil that is perfect for dipping, to toss pasta, to roast pumpkin, to make a vinaigrette.

So with my passion for all things Extra Virgin Olive Oil, you can imagine how excited I was when the City Olive in Chicago - a great source for Extra Virgin Olive Oils from all over the world - hosted a book presentation by Fran Gage. Fran is one of America's leading experts on Extra Virgin Olive Oil and has published this very lovely book on American EVOO (well, Californian really) producers, including 75 recipes differentiated by style of EVOO. A great read and a great source of inspiration, too!

So here is a recipe from Fran's book "The New American Olive Oil", perfect for these fall days and Cosimo's Premium Blend

Apple and Parsnip Soup

Ingredients

3 tbsp delicate EVOO (Fran recommends an EVOO with tropical & floral notes such as the Ascolano)

2 leeks, washed, with green tops removed, thinly sliced

1 lb parsnips (2 or 3 medium), peeled & cut into 1-inch dice

fine salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced

1 tsp thyme leaves

5 cups chicken stock

1.5lb (approx. 4) apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1-inch dice - look for crisp apples with a hint of sweeteness

3 tbsp Cosimo's Extra Virgin Olive Oil Premium Blend for drizzling

1.5 tbsp snipped chives

Method:

(1) Heat the delicate EVOO in a medium casserole over medium heat until it trembles, becomes aromatic, and easily coasts the bottom of the casserole. (2) Add the leeks and parsnips. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until the leeks are wilted, but not browned, about 5 minutes. (3) Add the garlic and thyme and cook for 2 more minutes. add the chicken stock and the apples. (4) Bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until the parsnips and apples are falling apart for about 35 to 40 minutes. (5) Puree the soup with an immersion blender. Adjust seasoning if necessary. (6)  Ladle the soup into bowls. Drizzle with Cosimo'a Premium Blend and garnish with snipped chives.

They smile at us from porches and out of windows at this time of year. They are stacked high at farmer’s markets, in all shapes and colors. Such a delicious variety! The bright orange pumpkin, the traditional object of Halloween carving. The smaller, more reddish colored hokkaido squash. The pear shaped butternut squash, the orange sprinkled acorn squash with its deep green color. And the fuzzy squash, which I discovered in my garden this summer and which has developed in such a grotesquely huge thing that I have decided it will be dished up at my birthday dinner in January. Although I certainly regret to bid the summer goodbye, I cannot really be upset about the dying tomato plants and shorter days. I am too happy to see the pumpkins and squashes out and about!

To get you in the mood for fall, try this easy Roasted Pumpkin Crepe w. Goat Cheese. It makes a delicious dinner with a small side salad of the season’s last lettuces and tomatoes!

Ingredients (for 4 persons)

1 small pumpkin or acorn squash (ca 1 ½ lb)

4 tbsp Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil “blend”

1 tsp Roberta’s Roasting & Grilling salt

1 spring rosemary

4 tablespoons fresh goat cheese spread

4 tablespoons cooked quinoa (if you have none on hand, do not stress yourself about it. It is not crucial to the recipe, although it adds a nice texture component!)

1 cup chopped chard

For the pancake

6 tbsp flour

4 eggs

3/4 cup water

½ tsp Roberta’s Roasting & Grilling Salt

Method: (1) Heat oven to 375 F (2) Wash pumpkin/squash well under warm water (3) Cut in half once and clean from the seeds (if the thought of nibbling on pumpkin seeds makes you has happy as me, put seeds aside in a baking dish and sprinkle w. salt to be roasted in the hot oven later) (4) Cut lengthwise into slices ca. ½ inch thick, toss w. 2 tbsp EVOO and Roasting & Grilling Salt and put in the oven for approx. 15 min with the rosemary (5) In the meantime, beat eggs well and mix in the flour and salt (6) add the water gradually, make sure the mix does not get too liquid! (7) Let sit for about 10 min. (8) Clean chard and chop into bite size pieces (9) Add chard to the pumpkin/squash, turning over the latter to make sure they are well covered in EVOO. Put back into the oven for another 10 min. (at this point you can stick the seeds into the oven, too)  (10) Add a dash of EVOO to a well heated large pan, and add a small ladle of pancake mix, turning the pan well, so the dough covers the whole surface of the pan (you should have enough dough for 4 crepes) (11) When lightly brown, flip and cook for another 90 seconds. While you repeat this for all crepes, you can keep the finished ones warm in the oven (11) Spread a tablespoon of goat cheese on every crepe, arrange pumpkin slices and chard, as well as a tablespoon of cooked quinoa in the center of the crepe (12) Fold up and transfer to plate. Drizzle with EVOO and serve.

Well, I do not know about the weather in your hometown, but today here in Chicago we had a great late summer day: sunny, warm and with thoughts about winter suddenly distant. I say "suddenly", because a couple of days ago I actually put away all my summer clothes convinced that winter had begun. It was chilly! The same time I packed tops, skirts and dresses into boxes, I dug out my recipes for the colder months. I know I said this before on this blog: I admire everyone who sticks to a raw diet, I certainly cannot. The moment the temperature drops my body craves warm food, especially warm cereals in the morning. Which is where my love for all things cornmeal & polenta comes from.

When I lived in Italy, my friends would give me disgusted stares when I talked about cooking polenta with milk and eating it with fruit and honey for breakfast. "Who in their right mind..." was the classic comment. Surely, my Italian friends would be proud of my savory side today and would certainly polish these Sun-dried Tomato Polenta Cakes off the serving tray.

These are great little appetizers for dinner parties and holiday entertaining (yep, before you know it will be Christmas!) and they can be prepared well ahead and only briefly heated before serving. You can also serve larger pieces either as a side dish to a meat course or make it an vegetarian entree' with some nice greens by the side!

Ingredients

for the cakes (makes ca. 15 cakes 2inch diameter cakes)

1.5 cups polenta (or coarsely ground cornmeal)

1 cup milk

4 cups water

2 tablespoons Roberta's Sun-dried Tomato Spread

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup grated cheese, preferably aged goat or sheep milk cheese

for the decoration: ricotta cheese & kale chips

3 tablespoons fresh ricotta cheese

1/3 cup kale

2 tablespoons Cosimo's Extra-Virgin Olive Oil "blend"

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons Cosimo's Extra-Virgin Olive Oil "premium blend"

Method: (1) Combine milk, 3 cups water and polenta in a pot and bring to a boil (2) cook for approx. 40 min over low heat (you should see very few, and slow, bubbles), stirring well every 5 min. and adding the remaining water if necessary (3) In the meantime, heat the oven to 350 degrees (4) Wash the kale and cut the leafy parts into bite size pieces (5)  In an oven save dish, toss with Cosimo's Extra Virgin Olive Oil, vinegar and salt  (6) When polenta is well cooked, but still has a bit of a bite, take it off the heat (7) Mix Roberta's Sun-dried Tomato Spread, salt, pepper and grated cheese into the polenta (8) Pour the mix into a baking dish that is lined with EVOO and bake in the oven for approx. 20 minutes at 350degrees until slight golden brown crust forms (9) In parallel, bake the kale chips for approx. 10 minutes in the same oven (10) Take polenta cake out of the oven and use a cookie cutter to cut your polenta cakes (11) Add 1/2 teaspoon of ricotta cheese and a kale chip for decoration and finish with a drizzle of Cosimo's Extra Virgin Olive Oil "premium blend"

When preparing the polenta cakes ahead of time: Do not bake the mix! After pouring it into a baking dish let it settle in the fridge (happily overnight). When ready to serve, cut out the little cakes and  warm them in a pan with a little EVOO or on the griddle!

PS if you pls. excuse the quality of the photo. Having some issues with my camera, needed to divert to camera in phone for this one.