You need to try this vegetarian mead & food pairing!

This veggie main course is a dream come true for vegetarian cheese and mead lovers! The crispy baked polenta with a piece of fried Taleggio cheese with truffles is a delicious mead and food pairing. You can serve it with zucchini noodles & basil foam. It tastes best drizzled over with honey and served with honey wine!

Ingredients for 2 portions:

• 300g of Tallegio cheese with truffles
• 20g flour
• a teaspoon of forest honey

• 45g of medium grind cornmeal
• 150ml milk
• 150ml vegetable stock
• 10g butter
• salt, pepper

• One zucchini
• A handful of fresh basil
• 0,5 dl of veggie stock
• 0,5 dl of milk
• A knife-edge of Xanthan gum stabilizer

• Pure dry mead made of forest honey by Meadery Jere.

Let’s make it together!

Step 1:

Bring the milk and the veggie stock to a boil and add a pinch of salt and pepper to it. Move away from the fire and slowly add cornmeal to it while constantly stirring. Lower the heat and put the pot back on the stove. Cook for 10 minutes or check the package for cooking instructions. In the meantime, cover the small (12x14cm) tray with baking paper. When the polenta is finished cooking, add butter, stir one more time and pour it onto the tray. The polenta should be approx. 1 cm thick. Let it cool and thicken.

Step 2:

You can of course use a spiralizer to turn zucchini into zucchini noodles, but a julienne peeler or even a normal peeler work just as well! When using a vegetable peeler, you should use a knife to create these 3 mm thick julienne strips. Blanch for 30 seconds in salted boiling water, strain, and set aside. To make the basil foam, bring the qual parts of milk and veggies stock to a boil and add fresh basil to it. Turn off the heat and let it sit while you focus on step 3.

Step 3:

Take your taleggio cheese and cut it in a way that you and up with two 4 cm x 7 cm pieces that are about 1,5 cm thick. Do the same with the chilled and now firm polenta. Take a large plate and cover it with a flower. Add the cheese and polenta pieces and make sure that they are covered with flour from all sides. Heat up a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a pan. When the oil is hot add the polenta slices first. Bake on each side for 3 minutes to get the sides to crisp up. In the meantime, toss the already cooked noodles in a pan with hot butter to warm them up again. When finished, add the cheese to the same pan as the polenta and fry on each side for 15 seconds to make it crispy and a bit melted.

Plating it

Plate the polenta first, add the cheese on top and drizzle the honey over it! Place the zucchini noodles next to it and blend the basil sauce with one gram of Xanthan on high speed to create beautiful basilico foam. Serve with a glass of cold dry forest mead!

About the taste …

We all know how good crispy polenta is … but Taleggio is the true start here! With its semi-soft consistency and a thin layer of crust, this pungent cheese with a surprisingly mild taste tastes great with forest honey. The zucchini noodles and the taste of basil add the necessary freshness and lightness to this cheezy dish! Please recommend this to your vegetarian mead enthusiastic friends!

Looking for more vegetarian mead and food pairing recipes?

Try this leafy greens raspberry salad with goat cheese! It is made with homemade raspberry dressing and served with dry honey wine as well!

We are very passionate about vegetarian food and mead parings. You too? Then subscribe to our newsletter and share this recipe with your friends! Thank you for your support.