Event

Polenta: Sweet and Savory / with Viola Buitoni

{A 3-hour, hands-on cooking class, culminating in dinner with wine.}
Sunday, January 12, 3:00-6:00pm
Tickets: $55 for members, $65 for the general public

Polenta is beautiful, textured, versatile, nutritious, easy, and delicious. Its uses span from budget conscious, rustic meal for a large family to elegant offering at an intimate dinner party. The texture and fragrance of polenta can hold memories like no other food. It allows use and reuse in different forms and flavors. In short: this humble food is worth your time and attention.

In this 3-hour hands-on cooking class, Viola Buiotni will share her favorite techniques and recipes for polenta, both sweet and savory.

Menu

polenta gialla con maiale in umido
(yellow polenta with braised pork sumo)

polenta bianca con seppie al nero alla Venezian
(white polenta with Venetian style black squid sauce)

avanzi di polenta: al gorgonzola, al sugo rosso e in padella
(polenta leftovers: with gorgonzola, in tomato sauce and in a skillet)

crostata di polenta e pere
(polenta custard and pear tart)

amor polenta
(hazelnuts and polenta teacake)

Viola Buitoni, a direct descendant of the famed pasta and chocolate family, hails from Perugia, in the heart of Umbria. She came to the US in 1985 for a business degree, but soon after graduation found herself drawn back into the genetic passion for food. In New York City she started Buitoni & Garretti, a catering kitchen and Italian fine foods shop. Here in San Francisco Viola can be found giving lectures on Italian food traditions and trends and cooking classes in collaboration with the SF Italian Cultural Institute and Italian Consulate. She also teaches "The Italian Kitchen", a monthly workshop at the Cavallo Point Lodge Cooking School; and an ongoing series of food articles and cooking videos for MissionLocal.org, a UC Berkeley's School of Journalism blog based in San Francisco's Mission District where Viola lives.