Polenta Cheese Gratin (Cheese Recipes)

Member Name: sweetpea01

Product:	Cheese Recipes
Date:	18/01/09 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Vegetarian & full of flavour

Disadvantages: Cooking time

Now a staple part in an Italian's diet is cheese! Cheese is nearly always found somewhere in a dish and always served after a meal (or it is in my family!!). Cheese is just as important as meat and plays a vital role throughout the regions of Italy.

The dish/ recipe I will be reviewing is also a vegetarian dish which is great and the main base of the dish is polenta. Polenta is made from boiled cornmeal and is incredibly popular throughout Europe. You can cook polenta in many ways and can vary from region to country.

Ingredients:-

Polenta:-

7 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
1-2/3 cups coarse-grained Italian yellow cornmeal
An 8-10 cup bowl, preferably stainless steel or copper

Filling:-

1-1/2 cups grated Fontina cheese, divided
2 tablespoons butter
1-1/2 cups Traditional Tomato Sauce
1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary, divided
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup Gorgonzola cheese
Chopped parsley

Method:-

1. Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the salt.

2. Add the cornmeal in a very thin stream. You should be able to see the individual grains spilling into the pot.

3. As you are adding the cornmeal, stir it with a whisk, and make sure the water is always boiling.

4. When you have added all the cornmeal, begin to stir it with a wooden spoon.

5. Stir continuously, bringing the mixture up from the bottom of the pot and loosening it from the sides.

6. The cornmeal becomes polenta in 35-45 minutes, when it forms a mass that pulls cleanly away from the sides of the pot.

7. During the last few minutes of cooking, stir in 1/2 of the Fontina cheese and 2 tablespoons butter.

8. Remove from heat and spread the polenta about 1/2-inch thick on a clean surface. Allow to cool completely.

9. Cut into squares, rectangles, or rounds - the exact size doesn't matter.

10. In a saucepan, heat the tomato sauce with half of the rosemary. Season with salt and pepper.

11. Preheat oven to 400-degrees F. Spread half of the tomato sauce in a baking dish.

12. Place the pieces of polenta over the sauce, overlapping them to fit. Top with the remaining Fontina cheese. Spoon the remaining tomato sauce in bands over the polenta, leaving the edges exposed. Crumble the Gorgonzola over the top and sprinkle with remaining rosemary.

13. Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly. Garnish with parsley and serve.

A lovely green leaf salad goes a treat with this dish. Unfortunately this dish does take a while to cook but that is polenta for you! It's traditionally cooked slow and many recipes follow this.

So maybe not an ideal dish for after work but for a light dish at the weekend it would be perfect. A great tasting dish, great for vegetarians and it's full of flavour. You can of course use different cheeses, my mother actually puts whatever is in the cheese box to create a different version!!

Summary: A great light dish