Linguiça com Polenta
Recipes with Linguiça
A direct product of Italian immigration to São Paulo's interior, where the same families that brought toscana sausage-making also brought polenta. The linguiça toscana braises in a quick tomato sauce while the polenta cooks alongside, then both come together on the same plate. In the old coffee towns of the Paulista interior, this combination appears on Sunday tables the way polenta con salsiccia does in the Veneto it came from.
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
35 min
Servings
4
Difficulty
Medium
Ingredients
- 600 g linguiça toscana, in links or cut into 8 cm pieces
- 1 litre whole milk
- 500 ml water
- 250 g coarse polenta (cornmeal)
- 60 g butter
- 80 g Parmesan, grated
- Salt
- For the sauce: 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium white onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 400 g canned crushed tomatoes
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- Salt, pepper, and sugar to taste
Steps
Brown the linguiça links in a heavy sauté pan over medium-high heat with no added fat, turning them to colour all sides, about 6 minutes total. They do not need to be cooked through at this stage. Transfer to a plate.
Pour off most of the fat, leaving about a tablespoon in the pan. Add the olive oil, then the onion. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and paprika and stir for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar. Stir to combine.
Return the browned linguiça to the tomato sauce. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, turning the sausages once halfway through. The sauce should thicken and the sausages should be cooked through.
While the sausage braises, make the polenta. Bring the milk and water to a simmer with 1 teaspoon of salt in a large, heavy pot. Whisk in the polenta in a slow, steady stream. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, for 20 to 25 minutes until thick and pulling away from the sides.
Remove the polenta from the heat. Stir in the butter and Parmesan until both are fully incorporated. Taste for salt. Spoon the polenta into deep bowls or onto plates. Lay the linguiça alongside or on top and spoon the tomato sauce over. Serve immediately.
Tips
Toscana is the right sausage here. Its fennel flavour reads as Italian and matches the polenta. Calabresa's smoke is too much for this preparation. Polenta sets fast once it leaves the heat — have the sausage and sauce ready before you pull the polenta off the stove. Leftover polenta can be poured into a tray, cooled, sliced, and pan-fried the next day.