If you’ve never cooked polenta, it’s a great comfort food—and gluten-free, too. We don’t know why Americans don’t eat more of it—and more parsnips, too, while we’re at it.

(Parsnips [photo #2] are one of the delicious fall vegetables roasted for this recipe.)

Fall and winter months beg for a dish of warm, creamy polenta.

Roast your favorite fall vegetables to top this recipe—and roast extra, so you’ll have them for the next day or two.

Then, set it off with a rich pumpkin cream sauce, with notes of cinnamon and nutmeg.

We’ve also made and enjoyed the recipe without the cream sauce—but substituted lots of freshly grated parmesan.

> There are more polenta recipes below.

> What is polenta?

> Cornmeal vs. polenta.

National Polenta Day is October 9th.

> See the year’s 17 corn holidays below.

> Also below, the history of polenta.
 
 
RECIPE: PUMPKIN SAGE POLENTA WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES

Ingredients For The Polenta

 
For The Roasted Vegetables

 
For The Cream Sauce

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375˚F.

2. ROAST the vegetables. Toss the vegetables with olive oil in a large mixing bowl and arrange on a nonstick baking sheet. Sprinkle with sage, salt and pepper.

Roast the vegetables for 25-30 minutes, or until soft and caramelized. Meanwhile…

3. MAKE the sauce. Warm the heavy cream and butter in a saucepan. Once the butter has melted, stir in 1/4 cup of the pumpkin, the parmesan, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

Keep warm on a low simmer until it’s time to serve.

4. COOK the polenta. In a sauce pot, bring the water, chicken stock, and butter to a boil. Slowly whisk in the polenta. Continuously stirring, cook for about 1 minute, or until the polenta begins to thicken.

Remove from the heat. Stir in 1 cup of the pumpkin, the sage, and the salt.

5. SERVE. Divide the polenta into individual bowls and top with the roasted vegetables and a generous drizzle of cream sauce.
 
 
MORE POLENTA RECIPES

 
 
THE YEAR’S 17 CORN HOLIDAYS

 
Plus

 
 
THE HISTORY OF POLENTA

Polenta as we know it today—made from cornmeal—actually has roots that predate the arrival of corn in Europe.

The word “polenta” comes from Latin, meaning hulled, crushed grain (and closely related to the Latin word “pollen,” which means fine flour or powder.

Ancient Romans ate a similar porridge made from various grains like barley and farro, and ground, dried legumes like chickpea flour.

A quick note:

 
Polenta, viewed as a comfort food today, was simple peasant food that sustained people across the Italian peninsula.

The transformative moment for porridge came after Christopher Columbus’s voyages to the Americas in the late 15th century, when corn (maize) was brought back to Europe.

Corn thrived in northern Italy, particularly in the Veneto and Lombardy regions, and by the 16th and 17th centuries, cornmeal polenta had become a staple food for the rural poor. It was filling, inexpensive, and could be prepared in large batches.

However, there was a dark side—many people who subsisted almost entirely on corn-based polenta came developed pellagra, a disease caused by niacin deficiency.

Natural corn lacks certain nutrients and while the indigenous peoples of the Americas learned to treat it with alkali, a process that wasn’t adopted in Europe‡.

Over time, polenta evolved from peasant food to beloved regional specialty. In the 20th century, especially in recent decades, it’s experienced a culinary renaissance, appearing in upscale restaurants and home kitchens worldwide.

Today it’s enjoyed in countless forms—creamy and soft porridge as a side or first course, grilled and crispy rectangles or cubes with a sauce, and served with everything from wild mushrooms to braised meats (information via Claude A.I.).

[1] Pumpkin sage polenta: It’s a beauty (photo © DeLallo).

[2] Make sure you use canned pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie filling, which has added sugar and spices (photo © Jessica Gavin: Culinary Scientist).

[3] Fresh sage is also wonderful with white beans, in pasta, or fried crispy in butter as a delectable garnish (photo © Good Eggs).

[4] When you don’t have 45 minutes to stir the pot, instant polenta is a great time saver. If you can’t find it locally, order it from DeLallo (photo © DeLallo).

[5] For the roasted veggies, the recipe calls for butternut squash, which easy to find and easier to cut than acorn squash. But you can substitute any winter squash, including fresh pumpkin (photo © Hawk Haven Vineyard).

[6] The parsnip, Pastinaca sativa, is a root vegetable closely related to carrots and parsley*, and very underutilized in U.S. cooking. Add it to the pan whenever you’re roasting vegetables (photo © Einladung zum Essen | Pixabay).

[7] Another favorite fall vegetable for roasting (photo © Sweetgreen).

[8] Roasted red onions add deep purple-burgundy hues to roasted vegetable medleys. They also tend to be a bit crisper than yellow onions, for a better texture (photo © Umami Information Center).

*Parsnips belong to the Apiaceae family, which also includes anise, asafoetida (a spice used in Indian recipes), caraway, celery, chervil, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel and lovage, among others. Why don’t Americans eat more parsnips, a delicious vegetable?

†This strange-sounding holiday commemorates the invention of the first large-scale commercial oil popcorn popper by Charles Cretors in 1885, enabling popcorn to be sold at fairs, theaters, and elsewhere to the happy public.

‡Nixtamalization, the process of soaking the corn kernels in alkaline water (lime water—calcium hydroxide), unlocks nutrients trapped in forms that our bodies can’t otherwise absorb. Of key importance is niacin (vitamin B3). The alkaline solution breaks these chemical bonds and releases the niacin into a form that can be absorbed. This is why the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica didn’t suffer from pellagra, while Europeans eating untreated cornmeal often did.

The lime water also adds calcium to the corn, and also improves the availability of certain amino acids, particularly lysine, making the corn protein more complete and nutritious. The process also changes the corn’s texture and flavor, making it easier to grind and giving it that distinctive taste found in tortillas, tamales, and other traditional Mexican foods.

How did the early Mesoamericans develop this brilliant piece of food technology thousands of years ago to make their corn-based diets nutritionally sustainable. Since it happened long before written records, we can only speculate. What we do know, based on archaeological evidence, is that nixtamalization appears to have originated 1500-1200 B.C.E. The why and how is mostly educated speculation. The leading theories:

Accidental discovery: The most likely scenario is that someone noticed beneficial changes when corn accidentally came into contact with lime (calcium hydroxide from wood ash or limestone). Perhaps corn was cooked near a fire pit where alkaline ash mixed with water, or stored in containers that had held lime. People would have noticed the corn became softer, easier to grind, tasted better, and kept them healthier.

Other thoughts: Practical problem-solving by the farmers, such as how to remove the tough outer hull, how to make corn easier to grind, or how to improve its flavor and shelf life. The health benefits would have been a observed consequence rather than the original goal.

Empirical observation over generations: While the indigenous peoples wouldn’t have understood nixtamalization in terms of niacin or amino acids, they would have noticed that communities eating treated corn were healthier, stronger, and more prosperous. This knowledge would have been preserved and passed down, even without understanding the biochemistry.

Many traditional food practices—fermentation, cooking methods, food combinations—developed through trial, error, and careful observation over centuries. People noticed patterns of cause and effect long before anyone understood vitamins or chemistry. The wisdom was empirical—verified by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic—and passed down through the generations (information via Claude A.I.).
 
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

[1] Acorn squash, one of the two most-available winter squash varieties for the table (photo © Kim Daniels | Unsplash).

[2] Tied for first place: butternut squash (photo © Good Eggs).

It’s a little bit of a chore to scrape the seeds out of an acorn, butternut or other winter squash*.

Here’s a tip: Use an ice cream scoop!

Another tip: Before you begin to slice the squash, place it in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes. It will be a lot easier to peel, seed and cut.
 
 
ROASTING THE SEEDS

Some people clean the seeds to roast. We don’t have an easy way to do that yet, but here’s a thought:

You don’t have to remove every last bit of string and flesh pumpkin from the seeds.

 
You can also use sweet seasonings, trading oil and salt for maple syrup and brown sugar, plus optional fall spices: allspice, cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg. A pinch of salt is a good addition.

We use the roasted seeds as a general garnish, in grains and salads, and in yogurt. Here are:

> 20 Uses For Roasted Winter Squash Seeds, Including Pumpkin

 
 
> HOW TO CUT & PEEL WINTER SQUASH
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF ACORN SQUASH

________________

*You can tell winter squash from its thick, hard exterior. You need force in order to slice into it. Acorn, butternut, delicata, hubbard, pumpkin, spaghetti squash and others are winter squash. Summer squash has a thin peel that can be eaten. Yellow squash and zucchini are examples.

[1] A seasonal carbonara, with bacon and apples. The recipe is below (photos #1 and #2 © Delallo).

[2] If you can’t find mezzi rigatoni locally, head to DeLallo’s online store.

[3] Mezzi rigatoni close up (photo © J. Eltovski | Morguefile).

[4] This delicious bacon is from Butcherbox, a quality meat subscription service with beef, pork and poultry.

[5] The recipe uses a Granny Smith apple. You can substitute Cortland (photo © Lisa Solonynko | Morguefile).

[6] Homemade rigatoni mezzi rigatoni made with the extruder attachment on a Kitchen Aid mixer. Here’s the recipe from The Baker Chick (photo © The Baker Chick).

October is National Pasta Month. We have a fall-focused recipe using mezzi* rigatoni, or half-size rigatoni (photo #2), from Delallo.

The recipe for Pasta Carbonara With Bacon & Apples is below, after a discussion of rigatoni—a cut that many non-cooks can confuse with penne.
 
 
WHAT ARE RIGATONI?

Rigatoni (righ-gah-TOE-knee) are tube-shaped ridged pasta (see the ridges close up in photo #3).

Ridged pasta, or pasta rigate (rih-GAH-tay) in Italian, is a style that developed during the Industrial Revolution. New mechanization enabled more sophisticated machine shapes, made with extruders.

While some pre-industrial artisans labored to make ridged pasta, the effort required was not likely cost-effective.

But voilà: Bring on the machinery and bronze dies to extrude pasta, and you’ve got all the ridged pastas (and other shapes) one can desire.

Ridged pasta was an immediate hit. It enabled chunky meat and vegetable sauces to better cling to the surface, lodging in the grooves. That was a bonus for the tubular pastas, which allow the sauce to be inside and outside.

According to Barilla and The Pasta Project, rigatoni were created in Rome in 1930.

While this may seem long ago to some, it is relatively recent given that pasta has been made in Italy since the 8th century (the history of pasta).”

Rigatoni became a mainstay in Lazio (the province of which Rome is the capital). Of note is the classic Roman dish La Pagliata (also called Pajata), made with the intestines of an unweaned calf (one only fed on its mother’s milk. Here’s more about it.

Rigatoni traveled to southern Italy, where they became a favorite combined with local ingredients.
 
 
Rigatoni Vs. Penne

Rigatoni are are larger than penne and ziti. They are made in varying lengths and diameters, based on the manufacturer.

Typical rigatoni are approximately 1-1/2 inches in length and 1/2 inch in diameter. Mezzi Rigatoni are approximately 5/8 inch in length with a diameter of 1/2 inch.

The differences between rigatoni and penne:

 
The word rigatoni comes from the Italian word rigato, meaning ridged or striped (which should come as no surprise at this point in this article).

Other rigate pasta include:

 
And now, the recipe!
 

RECIPE: RIGATONI CARBONARA WITH BACON & APPLES

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. BEAT the eggs and cheese together in a large serving bowl. Add salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. HEAT the olive oil and garlic in large saucepan. Once the garlic begins to turn golden, remove it from the oil and discard. Add the bacon to the pan and sauté until it becomes golden brown, about 6 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

3. ADD the onion to the pan and cook until it begins to soften, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the apple to the pan. Cool together with the onions for 3 to 4 minutes.

4. ADD the bacon back to the pan and season with chili pepper to taste. Meanwhile…

5. BRING 5 quarts of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package instruction. Drain, reserving 2 cups of the pasta water to finish the sauce.

6. COMBINE the hot pasta with the apple mixture and oil in the serving bowl with the eggs and cheese. Toss to coat and to gently cook the eggs with the heat of the pasta. Once combined…

7. ADD about 1/4 cup of the reserved hot pasta water and toss. If the pasta appears too dry, add another splash of pasta water. Serve immediately sprinkled with additional cheese.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF CARBONARA
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF PASTA
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PASTA

*Mezzi rigatoni, often misspelled in the U.S. as mezze rigatoni. Both word variations mean “half,” but rigatoni is a masculine noun and takes the masculine plural adjective, mezzi. Mezze would modify a feminine noun.

†Manicotti is the Italian-American version of cannelloni. Manicotti tubes are ridged, larger and slightly thicker; cannelloni tubes are smooth, a bit smaller and slightly thinner.
 
  

There’s something different in maple syrup, and so special that it keeps selling out.

It’s Runamok Maple’s Sparkling Syrup, flush with edible gold (photo #1).

Runamok is an artisan producer of specialty maple syrup; not only classic varieties, but exciting flavored ones.

Not just for breakfast, these syrups are special garnishes or mixed ins for cocktails, desserts, marinades, sauces and more.

While today’s focus is on the sparkly syrup, there are many other options that make great gifting.

They’ll also open your eyes to what great maple syrup tastes like. It’s not your mother’s supermarket brand.

There’s more about the line .
 
 
RUNAMOK SPARKLE SYRUP: SOLD OUT

The first batch of Sparkle Syrup sold out in minutes. The company is planning another “sparkle harvest” in mid October.

“Pre-order today to secure your bottles of joy!” says Runamok.

Why Sparkle Syrup?

“Sparkle Syrup was created with one sole purpose: to make you smile,” Runamok notes.

“Life has been very, very serious lately; it is safe to say that 2020 has left no one unscathed.

“And while we can’t fix the big stuff, we can offer this little bit of whimsy to help make everyone smile.”
 
 
THE FIRST SPARKLING MAPLE SYRUP

The shimmer comes from food-safe pearlescent mica, the kind that’s used to add glitter to chocolates, cookies and desserts.

It’s completely edible and adds no additional flavor to the syrup. It’s purely an aesthetic innovation.

Just like a snow globe, the sparkles do settle after time. You just need to turn the bottle upside down and shake before pouring.

This syrup innovation tastes like Runamok’s traditional (rich and excellent!) maple syrups, but it’s full of sparkly gold glitter, sure to delight.

The glitter doesn’t alter the flavor or the texture, just the eye appeal and food fun.

And yes, it keeps selling out so if you want some for yourself and for gifts:

Put yourself on the waitlist today!

You may not be able to buy happiness, but you can buy an 8.45 fluid ounce bottle of Sparkly Syrup for $16.95, and feel happy every time you use it..
 
 
MORE RUNAMOK MAPLE SYRUPS

Beyond Sparkle, Runamok makes other Limited Edition syrups, infused with flavors: Cocoa Bean Infused, Holiday Spice Infused, Strawberry Rose Infused, even a forthcoming new Festivus Infused for the holidays (in honor of the Costanza family?)

That’s in addition to year-round bottles of Cardamom Infused, Cinnamon + Vanilla Infused, Coffee Infused, Elderberry Infused, Ginger Infused, Hibiscus Infused, Jasmine Tea Infused, Makrut Lime Infused and Smoked Chili Pepper Infused.

Exhausted yet? Don’t be. These syrups are worth your attention. On the website, you’ll see how each of them can be paired to add glorious flavors to food and drink.

How to choose? Staff favorites include Coffee Infused Maple Syrup, Makrut Lime-leaf Infused Maple Syrup, Smoked Chili Pepper Infused Maple Syrup and the non-infused Whiskey Barrel-Aged Maple Syrup.
 
Don’t want flavored syrup?

Try the non-infused classics: Bourbon Barrel Aged, Rum Barrel-Aged Maple Syrup, Smoked With Pecan Wood, the aforementioned Whiskey Barrel-Aged Maple Syrup and their signature maple syrup, Sugarmaker’s Cut.
 

WAYS TO USE MAPLE SYRUP

A good maple syrup deserves much more play than the conventional French toast, pancakes and waffles. Try it with;:

 
Need sweetness in whatever you’re eating?

Use maple syrup, America’s indigenous sweetener.
 
 
> MAPLE SYRUP HISTORY <
 

[1] Runamok Sparkle Syrup, right spoon, compared to regular maple syrup, left spoon (all photos © Runamok Maple).

[2] Turn everyday apple slices into a fun snack.

[3] Top your favorite dessert, from rice pudding to ice cream to un-iced loaf cakes: carrot cake, pound cake, zucchini bread…even angel food cake.

[4] Runamok’s Sparkle Syrup can sweeten and sparkle iced tea, but Runamok flavored syrups like Makrut Lime, above, can add an extra flash on the palate.

[5] Be sure to check out Runamok’s 16 syrups and limited editions. Here, Cocoa Bean Infused Maple Syrup.

[6] A holiday gift for your favorite foodie.

Based in Fairfax, Vermont, Runamok Maple is led by husband and wife team Eric and Laura Sorkin, who have dedicated themselves to providing their customers with innovative, high-quality maple syrups.

The brand continues to prove that maple syrup is a must-have pantry item and can be used for anything from meat marinades to cocktails to your favorite dessert.

Why Runamok? The name comes from the wild and unpredictable nature of making maple syrup. It is one of the last wild-harvested products, which inherently makes things very chaotic.

Weather, storms, animals, equipment, etc. all play into the craziness of sugaring. Runamok is a fun name to convey the many unpredictable things that can happen in the course of a year.

[1] For Halloween and beyond, barware to meet all needs. Here, a carafe with a bottle of KAH blanco tequila (both photos © Pottery Barn).

[2] A double old fashioned glass with a blood-red cocktail, like Satan’s Whiskers.

We’d use these glasses year-round, but they may be a very welcome substitute for fine chocolates.

Available at Pottery Barn, the collection includes skeleton hands wrapped around a:

 
There are also stemmed wine glasses and flutes the bowls held up by the entire skeleton. You can see the whole collection here (scroll down to see all).
 
 
TO SERVE WITH YOUR DRINKS

Carve Some Halloween Cheese

Cheese & Pretzel Broomsticks

Halloween Cheeses

Halloween Mini Pizzas

Low-Calorie Halloween Food

Radish Eyeballs

Spider Deviled Eggs

Witch’s Fingers Breadsticks
 
 
MORE HALLOWEEN

The History Of Halloween

Have A Halloween Cocktail Party