Polenta Pie With Italian Toppings
By: Yuliya Childers
Published: Tuesday, May 7, 2013 - 9:02pm

Ingredients




2 cups water
1 cup milk
1/4 cup olive oil, plus a bit more for sauteing and drizzling the baking sheet
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup yellow corn meal, coarse grind
3-4 oz pancetta, diced
1 large shallot, finely chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, slivered
3 oz (or more if you are a fan) crumbled blue cheese such as gorgonzola, can be substituted with goat cheese or fresh baby mozzarella
1/2 lbs baby spinach
1 bright colored sweet bell pepper, cut in half, seeded and sliced not too thin
a handful of pignoli (pine nuts)

Preparation

1 Make polenta first. In a saucepan, bring water, milk, 1/4 olive oil and salt to a boil. Reduce heat immediately, and pour in the corn. Stirring very frequently, simmer corn for about 15 minutes, until very thick. 2 Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment, and drizzle a bit of olive oil on it. Spread polenta on the sheet evenly, to about 1/2″ thickness, and shape into a circle, just like a pizza crust. Let cool until nicely set. 3 Heat the oven to 425F. Sprinkle polenta crust with freshly ground pepper, and bake for 30 minutes, until nicely browned around the edges. Keep the oven on. 4 While crust is baking, prepare the toppings.  In a skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil. Saute pancetta, shallots and garlic for about 7-8 minutes, until nicely golden and very fragrant. Don’t overcook. 5 Remove the pancetta topping into a bowl and set aside. 6 Heat a bit more oil in the same skillet and saute baby spinach until wilted and dark green, for about 3 minutes or so. Again, remove the spinach and set aside. 7 Add pepper slices and saute for a couple of minutes until they are nicely wilted, for about 3-4 minutes. 8 Layer your toppings atop polenta crust, starting with cheese crumbs, followed by pancetta mix, spinach, peppers, and finally pine nuts. Arrange everything in a pretty way. Drizzle just a few drops more of olive oil, and put back in the oven for 4-5 minutes. 9 Slice like a pizza or cut into 3 inch squares. Serve immediately.

About

I usually am not a fan of dishes when one thing is passed off as another one — veggie burgers, mock crab meat, tofu — that’s just not my cup of  tea.  I say, if you are going to eat a burger, for Pete’s sake, just eat the dang real meat.  But sometimes, curiosity just takes over, and you end up with things like this one.