Woodcock with Polenta

Name: Woodcock with Polenta
Yield: Serves 3
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 2½ quarts salted water; 1 pound cornmeal/polenta (about 3 cups); ½ cup Marsala or medium dry sherry; ¼ cup (½ stick) butter; 2 ounces raw ham, finely chopped (about ½ cup); 3 thin slices pancetta or unsmoked bacon, chopped; 3 woodcocks; 1 tablespoon tomato paste; salt and pepper; 2 sprigs of parsley, finely chopped; 1 bay leaf; 1 tablespoon celery, finely chopped; 2 ounces pancetta or unsmoked bacon, finely chopped (about ½ cup); 1 tablespoon onion, finely chopped; 6 juniper berries, crushed

Preparation info

Serves
3

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Game Cookbook

By Clarissa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott

Published 2004

About

This is an Italian way of serving woodcock and it is very agreeable, especially if you have a lot of them. I never have that many and resented testing the recipe!

Ingredients

2½ quarts salted water
1 pound cornmeal/polenta (about 3

Europe
Italy
Main course
Autumn
Winter
Gluten-free
Mediterranean

Method

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Boil the water and pour in the cornmeal/polenta. Reduce the heat and stir constantly for 30 minutes until the polenta comes away from the sides of the pan. Tip it onto a clean counter and flatten to ½ inch, then let cool for 30 minutes. Divide into 12