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Sauce for Polenta
2 tablespoons of butter 2 tablespoons of flour 1 cup thick strained tomato juice Salt and pepper Melt the butter, and cook the flour thoroughly in it; add the tomato juice and seasonings, and cook until smooth, stirring constantly.
A plain tomato velouté built on a butter-flour roux, sized to dress one batch of polenta. It comes together in under ten minutes, and almost everything depends on how far the roux is cooked.
- Cook the roux properly"Cook the flour thoroughly" is the hinge of the recipe. Stir the flour into the melted butter over medium heat for two to three minutes until it smells faintly nutty and loses its raw pastiness; skipping this leaves a chalky taste that the tomato will not cover.
- What "thick strained tomato juice" meansProbably not the thin, salted drinking juice sold today. It most likely meant tomatoes simmered down and pushed through a sieve. Use passata, or reduce canned crushed tomatoes and strain out seeds and skin.
- Add the liquid off the heatPull the pan aside, whisk in the tomato a little at a time until smooth, then return it to the burner. Adding a full cup at once to a hot roux is the usual cause of lumps.
- Consistency and quantityTwo tablespoons each of butter and flour to one cup of liquid gives a fairly thick sauce that will coat rather than pour. Thin with a few spoonfuls of water or vegetable stock if you want it looser.
- AcidityTomato reduced and thickened can turn sharp. A pinch of sugar, or a small knob of butter stirred in at the end off the heat, rounds it without making it sweet.
- YieldAbout one cup, enough for four modest servings of polenta. Grated hard cheese over the top is in keeping with the dish, though the original does not call for it.