Completing a full circle, last night it was back to polenta.  I had one more piece of the excellent lambs liver I’d bought from 3-Corner Field Farm early in January.  The first bit went into a sauce for hare; the second was sautéed whole and accompanied by cabbage leaves and roots;  and last night the third portion was prepared in the tradition of northeastern Italy.  Inexplicably, it’s also a tradition followed by my dear Wisconsin-born, fränkisch–Extraktion Mutter (except that Mother never prepared polenta).

• two thinly-sliced red onions from John D. Maderna Farms, along with three fresh bay leaves from Westside Market, cooked over low heat until the onions were golden, then seasoned with salt and pepper, a small bit of water added, its non-liquid contents removed and set aside, some olive oil added to the pan if necessary, the heat turned up to medium-high and 1/2-inch slices of lambs liver from 3-Corner Field Farm (nine ounces) which had been dusted with flour, stir-fried until seared, the onions returned to the pan without the bay leaves and reheated with the liver, two tablespoons of white wine vinegar added and stirred with the meat and vegetable
• coarse white polenta (Moretti Bramata Bianca, farina di granoturco, from Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market) cooked with water and no milk, finished with butter, seasoned with salt, and served with the liver
• the wine was a northern Italian red, Paruso Dolcetto d’Alba Piani Noce 2013 from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was a recording, via Spotify of Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 with the Berlin Philharmonic, in the old Philharmonic Hall/alte Philharmonie, October 31, 1943 (three months before both it and the Beethoven Hall/Beethovensaal  were destroyed by British bombs)
• the post-dinner presentation was the intense documentary, ‘Reichsorchester‘, watched at home via the excellent Berlin Philharmionic Digital Concert Hall