Serves 4 to 6

“Cooking meat and polenta together without any stirring at all: what a revolutionary and delicious idea! Once the pork chops are browned, the polenta cooks with them in the oven in combined milk, broth, and pork juices. No time-consuming watch at the stove and no arduous stirring are required.
Gianna Modotti grew up in the Carnia Mountains of Friuli and remembers the dishes cooked by her grandmother as if she ate them yesterday. The polenta of Friuli, the beautiful and unexplored region in the northeasternmost corner of Italy, appears in numerous dishes because the rigorous cold climate of the mountains calls out for food as warm and nourishing as this. I have dreams of introducing everyone to polenta in this easy way. I can’t imagine who could resist, especially after eating a few spoonfuls of the soft creamy polenta that comes with the pork chops.”

7 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 pork chops (about 2 3/4 pounds), trimmed of any fat
2 large garlic cloves, minced
3 leaves of fresh sage, torn; do not use dried sage
if fresh sage is not available
1 bay leaf
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup milk
1 cup meat broth, plus extra if needed
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons coarse-grind polenta or cornmeal
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a 12-inch flameproof or enameled casserole that will go in the oven. Add the chops and sauté them over medium-high heat, turning to brown on both sides, about 8 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle the garlic, sage, bay leaf, and rosemary needles stripped away from the sprig. Bathe them with
the white wine and cook over medium-high heat, turning frequently until the wine has evaporated, 10 to 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix together the milk, broth, and polenta. After a few minutes, add them to the pan, lifting each pork chop and pouring some of the mixture underneath so that most of the polenta is below the meat. Stir well to incorporate the liquid polenta mixture with the pan juices, then sprinkle salt and pepper over the top.
Put the entire mixture in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, covered, adding slightly more warm broth if necessary, and cook until the polenta has thickened but is still soft and creamy. Remove and discard the bay leaf.
Serve immediately.

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