Baked polenta with gorgonzola is another delicious and healthy side dish to enjoy on autumn days. Â
Polenta is always a good idea when it comes to serve next to any kind of meat. The traditional polenta recipe is a kind of porridge known for its beneficial properties and earthy flavor.Â
However, this time I wanted another kind of polenta recipe, one baked with lots of cheese and gorgonzola. Gorgonzola has a mild salty taste and perfectly balances polenta’s flavor, thus creating a great duo. Baked polenta with lots of gorgonzola is a must-try, as it is easy to make and delicious to enjoy. Â
In my family, polenta or other side dishes such as mashed potatoes, rice, buckwheat, and other dishes are always welcome and a must next to some cooked meat or fish. It will nicely and healthily complete your dinner table. A salad is always the best idea, as green leaves or veggies will always digest better when paired with meat or fish. But, sometimes, you want something else and rustic. Â
What is polenta?
Polenta is an Italian recipe made of coarsely ground corn and cooked in either stock, water, or milk. It is a rustic, very old recipe with a long history and a smooth and soft yellow texture. Nowadays, you can find baked polenta, polenta with gorgonzola, and other recipes. This rustic but, at the same time, still actual nowadays recipe is something fabulous and savory. Polenta is healthy and delicious.Â
Baked Polenta
Polenta can be cooked the traditional Italian way on the stove and served loose like grits or baked with some different add-ins. Baked polenta is probably my favorite way of serving it, as it looks different, and I like the crispy texture it turns out to be. The firm texture of the baked polenta is something I got acquainted with some years ago, and since then, I am cooking it only that way. I got in love with the aroma, crispiness, and melted gorgonzola on the top, which made my house smell amazing. Baking cheese is unbelievably seductive as I am always eager not to wait until it gets cold enough, and I am savoring it while warm. The key to a successfully baked polenta is to wait for some time to cold the inside part of the polenta and enjoy it next to anything.Â
Baked polenta is an option for breakfast, dinner, appetizers, or picnic casseroles.Â
The ingredients:
- One ¾ cup dried polenta (yellow grits)
- 7 cups water or vegetable broth
- A pinch of salt
- A pinch of pepper
- 1 cup grated PargeggianoÂ
- Gorgonzola
How to make baked polenta
Since it is made of corn flour, polenta has an earthy, mild taste. Gorgonzola or any other cheese nicely balances the saltiness and flavor, thus making it taste amazing. One more tip: you can add mozzarella cheese inside of the polenta to obtain a more lingering effect.Â
Preheat the oven to 350 F (180C).Â
Meanwhile, take a large saucepot, pour water or the veggie broth into the pot, and boil at high heat. Once it is boiling, gently and slowly whisk in the corn flour and a pinch of salt. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Try to stir almost all the time to avoid lumps and a burnt bottom of the pot. Add some grated Parmigiano for taste.Â
Take a 9*13 inch baking tray and grease some butter on the inside of the tray. Pour polenta in and top over some gorgonzola.Â
Bake polenta for about 25 minutes. The smell in the kitchen should be fantastic due to the melting gorgonzola in the oven.Â
Once baked, take it out of the oven and let it cool down for about 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
Enjoy.
Baked Polenta with Gorgonzola
Equipment
- baking tray
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups polenta flour
- 6 cups water
- 1 cup Parmeggiano
- 1 cup mozzarella
- Gorgonzola
- a pinch salt
- a pinch pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (180C).
- Meanwhile, take a large saucepot, pour water or the veggie broth into the pot, and boil at high heat. Once it is boiling, gently and slowly whisk in the corn flour and a pinch of salt. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Try to stir almost all the time to avoid lumps and a burnt bottom of the pot.
- Add some grated Parmigiano and mozzarella for taste.
- Take a 9*13 inch baking tray and grease some butter on the inside of the tray. Pour polenta in and top over some gorgonzola.
- Bake polenta for about 25 minutes. The smell in the kitchen should be fantastic due to the melting gorgonzola in the oven
- Once baked, take it out of the oven and let it cool down for about 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
- Enjoy.
8 comments
How much Gorgonzola?
if you want it more tangy use 8oz. use less depending on your liking.
The liquid to dried polenta ratio is very off in this recipe. It turned out soupy even though I doubled the baking time. I should have known better. 7 cups of liquid to 3/4 cups of polenta looked weird from the beginning, but I decided to trust the author.
Hi, when you bake polenta, this is the reason it should be softer, like soupy, as a baking process will make it look more firm. Also, baked polenta is served cold, so any polenta left for some minutes will become harder.
One more moment: not sure what happened to your dish, but according to your message, you haven’t respected the proportions as indicated in my recipe. If you pay attention, I have used 1 and 3/4 cups of grit, not only 3/4 cups, as you have mentioned.
The usual ratio for grits is 1:3.
Hope I was clear.
Has anyone actually made this that comes out solid? I thought the grit to broth ratio was off so I did 2 cup grit to 6 cup broth and baked it for 35 min but it still came out all soupy. This could be good but needs a drastically different ratio.
Hi, it should look soft and soupy at the beginning because it will firm and get harder after the baking process.
There is an error in ingredients in the explanation. It should be 1-3/4 cups cornmeal. The recipe ingredient list is correct
I haven’t tried this Gorgonzola yet, but I have made many batches of polenta. I guess it ends up with a ratio of 2:1, water:grits, but I don’t really measure. I boil about three cups of water and add grits (I use whichever color I have in the pantry, white or yellow) and I stir it , adding more grits if it’s soupy. Eventually it will be a good texture, completely cooked and not soupy at all, more like a nice hot cereal texture, and I pour it into a buttered baking dish. I can bake it with additions, or let it get cold. If it’s cold I slice it into squares and fry it in butter. It gets a lovely crusty outside, buttery and delightful with meat. Heaven! The baked is different , but also delicious.