Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Polenta Lasagna

I actually just whipped something up last night (I am a non *whipper*, normally I only follow a recipe!). Over the weekend while at Whole Foods, I picked up a roll of pre-made Polenta. I have always wondered about it; how does it taste and what kind of recipe do you use it in? As with many ingredients I did some internet searching and found that many folks love to use it in Lasagna. Well it just happens that my mom sent me these fantastic new dishes that go from prepping dishes to oven cooking and my polenta was going to be their “first use” meal, and I made lasagna with it. This is such a simple recipe, I did not do any measuring and it turned out fantastic. When I list the ingredients I will try my best to approximate, but I do not think you can go wrong in general. My husband LOVED this, hope you will too.



INGREDIENTS (serves 3, baked in a small baking bowl)

1 package pre-made polenta, sliced into disks (1/4 inch thick)
½ to a whole jar of Marinara Sauce
Basil Pesto
Crimini Mushrooms, sliced (about 2 cups)
Ricotta Cheese, about 1 cup
Fresh Mozzarella, at least 2 cups

DIRECTIONS


First things first, slice the polenta and pan fry with a *smidge* of butter until lightly browned. Now let’s get to the assembly line –

Use a few spoonfuls of Marinara to coat your baking dish of choice; then dollop down a wee bit of ricotta and some basil pesto.



Next place one layer of Polenta



Next is a layer of mozzarella, ricotta, basil pesto, marinara & crimini’s.



Then……rinse and repeat; ending with a final layer of Polenta, covered in cheese and small spots of marinara.



Bake at 380 for 20 minutes; turn the broiler on low for about 3 minutes towards the end. Remove from oven and let set for at least 20 minutes.

Your reward...

3 comments:

Shannon said...

this is definitely going on my to-make list, it looks freakin fantastic. i want it now. of course, i'd probably eat ricotta straight, i love it so much!

Natty said...

This is a great idea! I'm totally making this!

Alexia said...

I am making this tonight!