Pasticceria Brusa Paste di Meliga. Traditionally, there were a few ways the Piemontesi enjoyed these biscotti, the most wonderful (in my opintion) is serving them with creamy, freshly whipped up zabaione, and/or a glass of moscato d’Asti or dolcetto for dessert. Similar to the more robust Tuscan biscotti, you usually dunk them in the wine before eating them. There’s a story that Cavour finished every meal with biscotti di meliga dipped in barolo chinato.The recipe for biscotti di meliga (melia or meliga is just the Piemontese name for polenta), more commonly found in a ridged ring shape made by piping the dough through a star-shaped tip rather than rolling it, is one born out of poor times – the price of wheat flour had gone up, so bakers substituted the cheaper polenta, ground very finely, for a portion of the wheat flour. It makes for a wonderfully short, delicate biscuit with good crunch.
