To cook venison in salmì with polenta we use the leg and shoulder, the prime parts, which we cut into pieces and marinate in a saucepan with chopped celery, onion, carrots and garlic, red wine, herbs and juniper berries.
After 24 hours, we remove the meat from the marinade, dry it, flour it and brown it in butter with a little grappa. We then add broth and the filtered marinade and continue cooking over a low heat for at least two hours. At this point we add home-made tomato sauce and cook for another 45 minutes to obtain a thick and fragrant sauce.
We serve the venison with a side of steaming polenta.
Typical of local festivals in Valle d'Aosta is wild boar stew in beer and olives with polenta.
The cuts of wild boar we use are the particularly pulpy ones from the thigh.
When the meat is ready, we serve it with a side of steaming polenta.
Although some define Carbonada as a simple stew, the preparation of this beef dish represents a ritual practised with painstaking care and patience in Valle d'Aosta families, contributing to making it one of the gastronomic symbols of our region.
It is to protect this traditional alpine dish that its recipe was deposited with the Aosta Chamber of Commerce in 2008.
Once ready, we bring it to the table with a side of steaming polenta.
The fillet is the most valuable part of the beef. It is located under the loin and is made up of muscles composed of thin fibres wrapped in fat. Due to their position, these muscles work very little, making the meat particularly tender and juicy.
The wine that goes best with pepper beef fillet is a good full-bodied, velvety red wine such as Vallée d'Aoste Enfer Arvier DOC.
To offer all the qualities of this meat in the honey and genepy beef fillet before cooking it we season it with a pinch of salt and massage it with a spoonful of oil. At the end of cooking in honey, we give the fillet a splash of genepy to balance the sweetness of the honey.
The fillet is the most succulent and tender part of the beef, and choosing this cut is perfect for grilling.
The preparation of grilled beef fillet is one of the most difficult as an error in cooking times and temperatures can burn it on the outside and leave it raw on the inside. When the meat is ready we serve it by adding a marinade or a choice of sauces.
Venison, beef carbonada, wild boar: three meats whose flavour and aroma inspire the atmosphere of the woods and mountains of the Aosta Valley. Which one to choose after a relaxing morning walk along the paths of our valley or at the end of a day spent on the Cervino ski slopes? To solve this dilemma, we have decided to propose them together in this trio of meats with polenta concia.
We marinate the meats with onion, carrots, celery and a mixture of herbs to sweeten their wild aroma.
Then we cook them in a thick and tasty gravy until each bite is so tender that it melts in your mouth.
A portion of steaming polenta concia, prepared with a mixture of cornmeal, fontina cheese from Valle d'Aosta and butter, completes the dish.
Steak alla valdostana is a hearty dish created to satisfy the hunger of those who worked hard in the mountains. Today, it satisfies the appetite of both those who spend their holidays engaging in alpine sports and those who simply love the good food of the Aosta Valley.
We fry the steaks in a pan with melted butter and when they are well browned on both sides we line them up in a buttered baking dish, covering each with a slice of ham and a slice of fontina cheese. When the cheese starts to melt, it is the signal that we can bring them to the table.
To accompany the Valle d'Aosta steaks, we suggest a red wine with a savoury and harmonious flavour such as Vallée d'Aoste Chambave.
Tomette are small goat's milk cheeses with an intense and strong flavour. The best way to enjoy them is to heat them for a few minutes on a griddle so that a crispy crust forms on the outside while the inside turns into a soft cream.
We serve them topped with a drizzle of oil and a side of grilled aubergines, courgettes and peppers.
The Valle d'Aosta does not have a sea, but the taste of the fish we catch in the rivers and lakes of our land has nothing to envy from the regions bordering the Mediterranean.
Valle d'Aosta trout are renowned for their lean meat and particularly delicate flavour enhanced by grilling.
Camembert is one of the best known and most appreciated French cheeses in the world. We bake the camembert to make it tasty with a stringy heart and serve it with a side of baked potatoes.