Cooking the Polenta
I don’t know why I keep trying to make things with polenta, as I must be doing something wrong. It does not get all stiff with me, no matter how much I cook it.
Still, this looked like a cool gluten free lasagna, and I was open to that, as well as having an excuse to use up more tomatoes.
I put the 4 cups of polenta to boil on the stove, and set to getting the tomatoes ready by peal. (even though the recipe called for canned tomatoes.)
This was another recipe from the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics.
Preparing the tomatoes
Here is what the recipe called for :
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups chopped onions
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons dried bail (I used fresh)
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 1/12 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 cup chopped red bell peppers
- 1 cup chopped green bell peppers (I used red, as that was all I had)
- 3 cups crushed tomatoes (I used fresh)
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 3 tablespoon tomato paste (I didn’t have this)
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
As usual, all these things had to be done in order. I sauteed the onions, then added the garlic, basil, etc through red peppers. Then added the tomatoes and wine, and set that to cook for about 30 minutes.
And, while all this was cooking, I had to put together1 cup of cream cheese, one egg, and and mix those togehter.
And while all this was going on I was supposed to put the polenta in the fridge, and spread it out., which I did. And, I was supposed to saute the chopped kale (to cups worth), which I did as well. I could have used Cartoonist, but she wasn’t around, so I had to do this all on my own.
finished lasage
When I took the Polenta out of the fridge, it wasn’t stiff, as described, so I just used it as is, and layered out the lasagna.
First layer was the tomato mix, then the polenta, then the cream cheese, then the polenta, then the tomato mix again, with graded Parmesan cheese on top (which I actually had from a recipe I didn’t end up making.
What is my verdict? Would I make it again? Only if I could get the polenta right. It really needs a stiff polenta, and I think I am not doing it quite right. The book says if it isn’t stiff enough, cook it longer, which I may do next time.
