Sgagliozze and crispy bacon

Cubes of fried polenta are for boys, Sgagliozze are for men! So theoretically we are talking about the same dish, but in practice with the second we enter the paradise of Bari street food, which this time we prepare as an appetizer with the addition of melted cheese and crispy bacon.

Sgagliozze crispy, golden and very tasty fried polenta alla barese. They represent, together with the popizze, the street food of old Bari that conquers for its simplicity and its true flavors. In the historic center of Bari the sgagliozze are fried on the street and in winter they are a real comfort food. The fried polenta sgagliozze are easily prepared, just make a very thick polenta, let it dry well in rectangular molds, cut it into slices and fry them in plenty of oil until golden brown. Scagliozzi can also be prepared with leftover polenta, they are easy to make and look good in the company of cold cuts, cheeses, vegetables and meat or fish. Let's see how to proceed to prepare this delicious recipe that typical of the Apulian 🙂 rotisserie

Ingredients

For Sgagliozze

200 g yellow polenta

700 ml water

to taste Salt

to taste frying oil

For croutons

200 g soft cheese (I recommend Gorgonzola)

100 g stretched bacon in thin slices

Procedure

Bring the salted water to boil to taste in a tall and large pot, pour the polenta and mix vigorously with a whisk. Cook for about 7/8 minutes, at the end of cooking it should be very dense. Transfer the polenta into a plumcake mold, let it cool for many hours. For perfect sgagliozze it is necessary that the polenta is very dry, otherwise it can not be fried well. Divide the polenta into slices more than 1 cm thick, creating squares. Bring plenty of frying oil to the right temperature and fry the polenta slices until the sgagliozze are golden and crispy. Place the sgagliozze on a pot lined with parchment paper, put on each piece a teaspoon of gorgonzola and melt in the oven for a few minutes. Toast the slices of bacon stretched in a pan without other seasonings, take care to remove the fat as it melts, to leave the slices crispy. Finally complete the sgagliozze with melted cheese with a slice of crispy bacon and have fun!