Pasticcio di Polenta (Corn Meal Loaf)
- 1 cup yellow corn meal
- 4 dried mushrooms
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon cream
- 2 tablespoons salt
The day before this dish is to be served, cook corn meal very thoroughly with only enough water to make it very stiff. Turn out to cool in deep dish.
Next day turn the mold out upside down; take this same dish, butter it, and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Cut the mold of corn meal in horizontal slices about one-quarter inch thick. Lay the top slice in the bottom of the dish where it fits. Dot with two or three small pieces of butter and three or four dried mushrooms, which have had boiling water poured over them and soaked some time. Moisten with cream and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Repeat, slice by slice, until the shape is complete. On the last slice put only two dots of butter.
Put in a moderate oven and bake three hours. If at the end of this time there should be too much liquid on top, pour this off to use for the seasoning of some other dish, such as spaghetti, rice, or noodles, and continue cooking until the liquid ceases to ooze.
Gnocchi alia Romana (Gnocchi of Farina or Corn Meal)
- ½ cup farina or corn meal
- Butter and grated cheese
- 1 egg
- Salt
- 1 pint of milk, or half milk and half water
Let the milk come to a boil; salt it and add the farina gradually, stirring constantly, so it will not become lumpy.
