alteRecipes.com recipe
derived from
Alice Waters's polenta torta
The Art of Simple Cooking, page 95
| 1. | polenta (coarse dry cornmeal) | ⅔ cup |
| water | 2 ⅔ cup plus more as needed |
|
| salt | to taste | |
| 2. | butter | 2 Tablespoons |
| grated Parmesan cheese | ⅓ cup | |
| 3. | sautéed white mushrooms | ¼ cup |
| cooked black chickpeas | ¼ cup | |
| cooked wild rice | ¼ cup | |
| toasted almonds | ¼ cup | |
| 7. | fresh mozzarella cheese in disks or sliced |
6 oz. |
| 8. | Parmesan cheese | ¼ cup grated |
1. Put the dry polenta into a nonstick pan with a lid and mix in the initial amount of water and the salt. Put the pot on a low flame and let it come up to a low simmer. Stir the mass thoroughly and put the lid on. Check the polenta every 10 minutes for 40 minutes, each time stirring in enough water to keep the polenta loose.
2. Turn the heat off, and stir in the butter and cheese. Cover the pot with a dishtowel and put the lid back on. Let the polenta rest, covered, for 15-20 minutes.
3. Blend the mushrooms, chickpeas, wild rice, and almonds to a coarse puree with your immersion blender.
4. Preheat your toaster oven to 350° and grease a small baking pan.
5. With your fingers, break off pieces of the cooked and cooled polenta. Use about half the total amount to make a mosaic layer in the bottom of your baking pan.
6. Spread the mushroom-chickpea-wild-rice-almond puree evenly over the first layer of polenta.
7. Lay half the mozzarella disks (or slices) over the puree as evenly as you can.
8. Make a mosaic of the other half of the polenta and top it with the other half of the mozzarella and then the Parmesan cheese.
9. Bake the cake till the top is molten and browned, probably about 15 minutes.