Polenta and Sausages for a Crowd (Polenta Alla Spianatora) Recipe (2024)

1. We usually pour polenta onto boards, in part to cool off.2. When it cools off it starts to solidify.3. We more often at that point, portion it into plates.4. When we do actually eat off the board (on specific occasions), the polenta isn't usually runny. As it isn't runny, and we're only really eating from a small area in front of us, we're usually not spooning into areas where someone else has eaten. At how many dinner parties do you find 10 single serving bowls of dip?

This can be made in individual portions so let's move past that. Does anyone have any comments on the flavor and texture?

My dear, departed friend Lisa made this for a hungry group of adults and children. We spread clean wipeable table clothes over two picnic tables and she poured hearty polenta in a long line down the middle, then topped with the tomato sauce, herbs and grated cheese, omitting the cheese from a portion for the vegans like me in the crowd, and adding sausage to a portion for those who ate meat. We took to it with our spoons; it was a huge hit for all. Truly memorable, lots of laughs and joy. Love!

ok, the shared eating of this recipe leaves me nauseated--not for me, at all. I don't like to share germs, and this dish has no boundaries re: portions, who-eats-what, etc. It may have a rustic charm for some, but for me, no thanks. I might make it and serve it in individual portions on rustic plates.

The timing on this recipe needs an adjustment; the polenta takes about 40 minutes but the sauce takes over an hour. Once you take polenta off the heat it firms up right away so I would suggest making the sauce first. It can sit when done while the polenta cooks. For those squeamish about sharing it can easily be done in bowls or plates.

I frequently make this just for myself. Downsize the recipe, pour the polenta on my plate, and top with the sausage and sauce.Serendipitously, tonight, before I saw this column, I decided to make what I call shrimp and grits Italian style -- i.e. polenta and shrimp scampi. If you haven't tried it, check out David Tanis's recipe for shrimp with hot fennel sausage and polenta, which appears below this column under "more from David Tanis"..

I actually did grow up eating polenta without plates, but it works much better when there is a board covering the entire table, as my italian grandmother did it. You then mark out your portion by drawing an arc through the polenta in front if you, and that is what you eat. It was amazing as a ritual, and also a delicious meal.

In Rome, our architecture professor Alan Ceen, invited us to dinner at his apartment where he prepared polenta. He stirred it on the stovetop with a thick wooden dowel until it passed the *slump test* which he described as similar to the viscosity of wet cement. He poured the polenta onto a large wooden board on his table, dressed it with tomato sauce and sausages, just as David Tanis described here. It was festive and delicious. I still serve polenta this way. He did provide plates however.

I love this as often "dinner" with friends is simply an informal gathering of tapas or an antipasto tray as opposed to a formal sit down dinner. I'd put this on a rectangle board (because that is what I own) and enjoy the conversation and food and wine. There isn't any of the problems described above.

As we say in Italy, Mr Tanis has not discovered water. I hate to disappoint you, or you Italian born parents, but, polenta was indeed originally often served in this manner. We do still occasionally serve it this way today.... at parties, at town "sagre", at Sunday family lunches, just for fun. But yes.... though it is still often poured onto a board, we're more likely to portion it from there, onto plates.

Polenta made with milk is vastly better than this watery mess.

This is a great red sauce. I’ve made 2x, first doing the recipe (shocking), second I took sausage meat out of casing and broke up. I preferred the second but it was devoured both times. Serve it on/with whatever carbs you want: pasta, polenta in bowls for the germaphobes, bread.....it’s easy and yummy

Delicious recipe. But no plates,only forks? If the polenta isn't cooked to pizza-firmness, giant bibs plus kitchen aprons would be mandated to protect one's clothes. (Doing the voice-over narration for some episodes on the DVD "The Best of Sgt. Bilko", the actor George Kennedy noted of his first encounter with Maurice Gosfield - who played the lovable slob Duane Doberman on the 1950s Phil Silvers sitcom - that Gosfield was "wearing his lunch".)

A wooden platter of polenta with sauce and sausages where everyone digs in? In *whose* Italian home is this ever done? My Italian-born hard-working parents, who served this dish often, would be horrified to see this affectation, and mortified to present it this way to family, let alone guests! This sadly reminds me of my dearly departed father’s lament that the media always depict Italians as peasants, stomping grapes, guzzling bad wine, gnawing stale bread, and digging into a trough of food!

I’d recommend sautéing opinions, then putting them aside to brown sausage, then returning them to pan after sausage is browned.

Made this - it was delicious. I read the notes so knew to start with the sauce, not the polenta. I couldn’t get fennel sausage so I added two sliced fennel bulbs with the onions to get that flavour (and save on a side veg dish) and it worked beautifully. I served in individual bowls and so far the recipe writer has not shown up at my house to demand satisfaction.

That was perfect. I made half the sauce and just 1/2 cup of polenta for the two of us. Sauce left for something else. It was perfect. This is really just good old fashioned spaghetti sauce with sausage. But perfect proportions. A keeper.

Very easy and hits the spot! I oven-baked polenta à la Martha Rose. To be fair polenta-sausage pairing always hits my spot, my right leg quivers as I eat.

I made a scaled down version for my husband and me, as I’m always looking for interesting gluten-free meals. It was delicious. Anyone who makes polenta knows you can easily modify this for portions instead of a communal spread. The sauce should be made first as it takes longer than polenta.

This recipe was great. My family loved it.

Flavor -- delish. Texture -- awesome.

I took the sausage out of the casing, added peppers to the onions, and added cream cheese and butter to the polenta. Heaven.

This is an easy recipe. It’s a saucy stew to be served over polenta. Serve it in individual portions. Forget worrying about sharing part, which I agree, I would never do. I make polenta all the time, it doesn’t take 40 minutes; 20 minutes tops— add more liquid as you go, depending on what texture you want—I prefer mine on the wet, loose side, like grits. Take it off the heat when it tastes right & cover it until ready to serve. I make polenta again the second night if there is sauce left over.

This was brilliant. So so tasty. If you don’t want to share meals, this works perfectly served onto individual plates. We went without the pecorino for a dairy free friend and didn’t replace it with anything, and the flavour certainly didn’t suffer. Delicious!

This is a great recipe as written. I made it last night - served on a 12-inch rimmed platter. I used Bob's Red Mill polenta and it was the right consistency to form a rim of polenta that made a perfect vessel for the sauce and sausage. Everyone served themselves, and then had easy access to seconds. I bought mushrooms (deemed optional in the recipe) but forgot to use them. Super tasty without them. Hooray for post-vaccine meals shared with friends!

Doubled the recipe and it fed 8 hungry adults with some leftovers. Didn't make the polenta (used Dinner a Love Story recipe for make ahead/baked/low maintenance polenta). Took the sausage out of the casing, crumbled and browned it first. Then removed from pot, sauted the onions, added the sausage back in and proceeded with the recipe. Easy and delicious

This is a great recipe and a great bread. I followed the recipe exactly ( it’s easy) and got two loaves with wonderful light but sturdy texture and lovely ever-so-slightly sweet taste.

My first time making polenta and it came out ok. Was really unsure how thick it needed to be before turning off the pot. Ended up that a wooden spoon would stand up briefly before sliding over. On the fence about eating off the shared platter -- it was communal but when we had leftovers, they were fairly unattractive. Probably would slice/serve it on plates as others suggested next time. Used Pinot Noir as the "dry red wine". Enjoyed the rest of the bottle during preparation and consumption...

In these coronavirus times I'm sure the desire to share a platter is diminished. But I cut the recipe down and ate it as intended with my hubby, since we're in our own bubble. Fun! We liked it as is, nice flavors. But next time I would grill the sausage first for even better flavor, before adding to the sauce, and likely would prepare the polenta to be more firm/sliceable (mine this time was pretty creamy)... just our preference now that I've tried the original.

This made a much softer, creamier polenta for me, even after letting it cool on the board. We ended up portioning it into bowls, and then mixing it up with the sauce and sausages, which we cut, in each bowl. There was also much more polenta at the end than there was sauce, so we ended up saving some plain polenta as leftovers—then added some cheese for cheesy polenta once we reheated it.