Baked vegetable polenta recipe

A great way to use polenta, packed with vegetables and full of flavour.

If you've never tried cooking with polenta before, this baked vegetable polenta is a great way to start. In Italy, this ingredient is considered a store-cupboard staple. It's made from ground corn, and can either be fine or coarse. Fine polenta makes an almost soupy dish, like soft mashed potato. Coarse ground is more textured, a bit like porridge. In this dish, the polenta is first boiled to a thick saucy consistency, then baked with the vegetables on top, to make a thicker, set layer. This dish is a great option for vegetarians.

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Ingredients

• 300g quick-cook polenta
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
• Small handful of fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 leeks
• 200g mushrooms
• 300g cherry tomatoes
• Feta cheese, cubed
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6. Mix the dry polenta grains with the garlic and parsley. Into a saucepan, pour the polenta mix into the required amount of boiling water as stated on the cooking packet. Cook polenta until a smooth consistency is achieved. Then pour into a baking tray. Set aside to cool.
2. In a frying pan, heat the oil and fry the leeks and mushrooms until tender.
3. Top the polenta with the fried vegetables and add the feta and tomatoes. Bake in the oven for 20mins until the polenta has risen and the cheese has started to melt. Serve immediately.

Top tip for making baked vegetable polenta

For extra flavour, use stock to cook the polenta in instead of water.