Baked Polenta

I really love polenta!  For me it's another one of those comfort foods that I'm happy to eat on its own, or as part of a meal.  While some people find it rather bland, I enjoy the natural flavour. Cooking soft polenta on the stove top can be a bit of challenge, especially if you have young children and may need to leave the kitchen for more than a minute or so.  It does require constant stirring and then there is the inevitable splattering of boiling hot polenta from one end of the stove to the other.  Several years ago I came across a recipe for baked polenta and since then I haven't looked back.  Both my girls love it and you can vary the recipe from plain (or bland as my husband would say) to full of flavour.

The full recipe below is enough for 6 servings.  If I'm using this as part of a meal I often halve the recipe as shown in the dish above, which gives each person about a 2/3 cup size portion of cooked polenta.

What you will need:

• 2 cups water
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 1 cup of polenta
• olive oil

What you need to do:

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 180 Celsius.  Coat the baking dish with olive oil (I use the olive oil spray).

2.  Add the water and chicken stock.  I generally add the water and then whisk in the stock powder while in the baking tray to save washing up.

3.  Whisk in the polenta.  Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 40 minutes, uncovered, until it resembles the photograph above.  All the liquid should be absorbed and the top will be golden and crispy at the edges.

Variations:

The recipe above may be simply too bland for some people so there are a few variations below.

• If you want the polenta saltier, add 1 tsp of salt at step 2, or replace the water with stock.
• Add some herbs at step 3.  You can try thyme, which is particularly tasty with polenta, sage or even rosemary.
• After 30 minutes baking, remove from the oven and stir through 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese.  Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes baking.
• After 30 minutes of baking, remove from the oven and stir through 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley.  Return to the oven for the final 10 minutes of baking.

Like rice, the fairly neutral flavour of polenta lends itself well to being served with richer foods.  It works particularly well with braised lentils, casseroles, and we enjoy it as part of our vegetarian baked dinners.

Vegan Baked Dinner

The photo above shows baked polenta served with Pumpkin Roasted with Cumin and Sesame Seeds, Puy Lentils with Rosemary and steamed broccoli with lemon dressing.