Polenta with Smoked Kangaroo and Parmesan

Polenta
with Smoked Kangaroo and Parmesan

Serves 4
Recipe: Easy to make
Maggie Beer, food writer and producer

This dish came from one of our Sunday nights with our restaurant 'family'. I sometimes add goat's cheese as well.

Ingredients
150 g (5 oz) Parmesan cheese
3 cups (750 mL/24 fl oz) chicken stock
185 g (6 oz) polenta
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
Butter
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
200 g (7 oz) smoked kangaroo, very thinly sliced
2 handfuls of rocket (arugula)
Good-quality balsamic vinegar, optional

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C (300 degrees F). Grate two-thirds of the Parmesan cheese and set aside. Heat the stock in a deep saucepan until simmering, then pour in the polenta and salt, stirring constantly. Stir the polenta over very gentle heat for about 20 minutes, until it begins to leave the sides of the pan, then add the grated Parmesan. Turn the polenta into an ovenproof bowl, dot with a little butter and place in the oven, covered, to keep warm.

When ready to serve, warm the olive oil gently in a frying pan or skillet, and toss the kangaroo in it quickly. The pan should not be too hot or the kangaroo will discolour and spoil. Turn the warm polenta out onto a serving platter and mound the kangaroo and rocket around it, then shave the remaining Parmesan over the lot with a vegetable peeler. Add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, if desired.

Buy the Book!

Australian Food:
In Celebration of the New Australian Cuisine
By Alan Saunders
Ten Speed Press
Paperback, 224 pages, $24.95
Publication Date: September 1999
ISBN: 1-58008-098-7
Recipe reprinted by permission.