Polenta with Beef & Sausage Stew
Submitted by DELINDA
Italian polenta with beef and sausage stew, a rustic Northern Italian dish of braised beef, hot Italian sausage, and mushrooms served over creamy polenta.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
2 hrsREADY
2 hrsThis is Northern Italian comfort cooking at its deepest: a long-simmered stew of cubed beef and hot Italian sausage with mushrooms, aromatics, and a nudge of nutmeg, ladled generously over creamy polenta. Every region of Italy has a version of this, and every one of them is heaven on a cold night.
The salt pork rendered at the start with butter and olive oil is what makes this stew taste Italian rather than generic. That three-way fat base carries a smoky depth that plain oil never will. Brown the meats properly, in stages, before the vegetables go in. That fond stuck to the bottom of the pot is liquid flavor.
Dried porcini mushrooms are worth the hunt. Soak them in warm water for 15 minutes, chop, and pour the soaking liquid into the pot. That brown mushroom broth delivers the umami backbone that separates this from a weeknight beef stew.
Chef Tips
- Cook the onions until medium brown, not translucent. Those caramelized sugars build the base flavor.
- Strain the porcini soaking liquid through a coffee filter before adding. Dried mushrooms hold onto grit.
- The pinch of nutmeg at the end is not optional. It gives the stew a subtle warmth that Italian grandmothers know by heart.
- Taste before adding salt at the end. Salt pork and sausage have done most of the work already.
Variations
- Use sweet Italian sausage in place of hot for a milder profile.
- Swap white wine for red Chianti for a darker, richer sauce.
- Stir ½ cup grated Parmesan into the polenta at the very end for a decadent finish.
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the beef into ½-inch cubes.
Remove casing from the sausage and cut the meat into 1-inch pieces.
Chop garlic and parsley together until almost pureed.
Cut the mushrooms into thin slices; or use ½ oz dried mushrooms and soak them in ½ cup lukewarm water for 15 minutes.
Drain, saving the water, and chop the mushrooms.
Combine olive oil, butter, and salt pork in a saucepan; heat.
Add onions and sauté slowly until medium brown.
Add beef and sausage and brown for 10 minutes.
Add garlic and parsley, black pepper and bay leaf.
Stir and cook for 10 minutes.
Add wine, stir, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add celery, carrot, tomatoes and mushrooms.
Stir and cook for 10 minutes longer.
Add hot water and water from dried mushrooms if any.
Stir, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes.
Grate a little nutmeg over the top and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes longer.
Test beef for doneness; taste for salt and add if necessary, but salt pork may have added enough.
Divide the hot polenta among 4 to 6 warm plates.
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