Comté e pepe polenta
French hilltops meet Italian tradition for an excellent side dish.
Oh how I love the nuttiness and perfection of Comté. It strikes the balance between creamy and sweet and nutty. I was making this to go with my roast garlic chicken for dinner when I realized this recipe was worth capturing and preserving for future dinners to come!! I ended up doing a mix of Comté and Pecorino Romano for the best balance of flavor, preserving some of the traditional cacio e pepe flavors, with just a pinch of French highlands. I think it’s best paired with Chardonnay to emphasize the regional pairings for the French jura mountains.
I use a fine polenta, which cooks quicker than coarse polenta, taking about 12-15 mins. I like to infuse the stock and milk with toasted peppercorns so that the essence of pepper is throughout the polenta without all the grittiness of actual peppercorns. I think that makes all the difference!
Go ahead and use this as a base for savory and saucey dinners, such as roast garlic chicken or slow cooked beef. It’s splendid with something hearty plus something fresh and acidic, such as a radicchio salad on the side. A perfect dinner plate for me would look like this: a few generous spoonfuls of polenta, topped with roast chicken and its sauce, finished with a herb salad comprised of parsley and radicchio on top.
Comté e Pepe polenta
Serves 6 as a substantial side dish.
Total time: 30 mins
Ingredients
1 1/2 tbsp, 10g, whole black peppercorns
5 1/2 cups, 1.3 L, chicken stock