Polenta is an ancient dish of Italian origin made from cereal flour.
In the past,it has constituted the basicfood of the diet of the inhabitants of some northern areas of the Alps, pre-Alpine, flat and Apennine and for this reason, mistakenly, it is thought that in central Italy it was not used.
In Lazio, polenta often accompanies meat or fish dishes, but unlike that of the hard north, it remains creamy and soft like mashed potatoes.
In this recipe,we use those that in Lazio are called spikes, and in other regions ribs, pins or ribs. They are the final part of theribsof the pig, after the spolpoto get the meat to be stuffed. They are an economical cut, poor in meat and rich in connective tissue that when cooked in tomato sauce becomes delicious.

Polenta with spare ribs

  • Preparation time: 120 minutes
  • Ingredients for 4 servings
  • Difficulty: Average difficulty recipe

  • Ingredients
  • For polenta:
  • 275 gr or 10 oz of polenta flour
  • 2 liters or 2 US quart of water
  • Salt to taste
  • For the spare ribs:
  • 900 gr or 2 lb of pork ribs
  • 4 sausages
  • 400 gr or 1 small can
  • Onion, celery, carrot cut into cubes
  • Extra virgin olive oil to taste
  • 110 gr or 4 oz of ham fat
  • Grated pecorino cheese to taste
  • Salt and pepper to taste.
  1. Instructions
  2. In a baking pan covered with parchment paper put the spare ribs and sausages to cook in a hot oven at 400°F for twenty minutes.
  3. In a pan, cook the ham fat, the onion, the celery, and the carrot. Stew for about ten minutes on low heat.
    Add the peeled tomatoes and a halfcup of water and cook over medium heat for another twenty minutes.
    Add sausages and spare ribs to the sauce, without their fat, and cook at least an hour and a half over a very sweet fire. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Put the water to boil in a copper cauldron. Salt the water. Once boiling, pour in the polenta flour, stirring quickly with a whisk with the flame turned off. Re-ignite the flameand cook the polenta turning it regularly with a wooden spoon. You should cookthe polenta for about 45 minutes because only after this time doesit become digestible.
  5. Remove the container from the heat and leave the polenta warm.
  6. Pour the polenta into the wooden serving dish, pour over it the sauce with the ribs and then sprinkle with plenty of grated pecorino.

Tips to ensure the success of the dish:

  • The passage of the ribs and sausages in the oven is important. There the meat will lose a lot of its fat, andit will brown outside, becoming tastier. The meat must be inserted into the sauce being careful to eliminate all the fat that has been formed in the oven.
  • If you want a more rustic polenta,you can also use only the craved flour.
  • When the flouris poured into the boiling water, I recommend using a whisk and stirring quickly to prevent the formation of small dumplings.