Ahh you know fall has arrived in Piobbico when you smell polenta! Last weekend was the annual Festa della Polentone alla Carbonara - Festival of Polenta made over an open fire! It was a gorgeous fall day, the streets filled with hungry visitors, festive music, good wine (a euro a glass) & hundreds of pounds of polenta - a fun & delicious time had by all!
The polenta is prepared in a copper cauldron heated by a wood fire, and stirred by hand with a wooden stick (this is serious work!), it is then cut into slices & seasoned with a special sauce called sufrangoli. If you look at the above photos (on the bottom left) you can see 2 guys carring a silver container between them - it's the sauce - they are headed to refill & share the 'sugo' or sauce with the other stands making polenta!
All in all there were 5 groups of polenta makers scattered about town, endlessly stirring ground corn (or polenta) for the masses to devour...and eat they did! Most locals, knowing the inside scoop - came prepared - not asking for a single serving but bringing casserole dishes & pots from home to be filled & weighed out by the kilo to feed their family!Next year if you are in the area stop on by & eat your fill of polenta on the first Sunday of September!
Sounds tasty!
ReplyDeleteHow did they do - and serve - the carbonara sauce with it, though?
Carbonara are the handmade briquettes used for the fire - not a sauce.
ReplyDelete"alla carbonara" definitely means "a la coal merchant's style" and refers to the dish typical of Rome, often eaten with bucatini or spaghetti
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm, can you wrap up and send me a bowl??? Sounds wonderful.
ReplyDelete