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📕 What is Polenta?
Polenta is a typical Italian, central European maize (cornmeal) porridge type.
Polenta resembles grits, but it's deep yellow in color.
Before polenta was introduced to Europe, they used other ingredients such as chestnut flour or millet.
Polenta is cooked with liquids such as water, stocks or milk for a couple of minutes.
It's a very quick side dish to prepare and you can easily alter the flavors to your liking.
This layered polenta casserole includes some Mediterranean flavors.
I add basil and olives to the tomato paste to enhance the flavors.
That way you can enjoy this baked polenta dish on its own.
However, I like to serve it with a green salad or a broccoli radish salad for a change.
📜 Polenta Casserole variations
You can also enhance this casserole dish by adding the following ingredients to the sauce.
- Rotisserie Chicken
- Cooked Shrimp
- Tuna Flakes
- Canned Chickpeas
- Leftover ham from the holidays
👁️ More Casserole Recipes
Global Food Recipes
with Spices and Herbs
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📖 Recipe
Layered Polenta Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
For the Polenta Layer:
- 1 cup Polenta
- ½ cup Water
- ½ cup Milk
- 2 Tablespoon Butter
- pinch Salt
- pinch Black Pepper Ground
For the Tomato, Olive Layer:
- 10 Olives whole or sliced
- 1 cups Tomato Sauce
- pinch Salt
- pinch Black Pepper Ground
- Basil optional
For the White Sauce (Bechamel):
- 1 Tablespoon Butter
- 1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
- 1 ¾ cups Milk
- pinch Salt
- pinch Black Pepper Ground
For the Topping:
Instructions
- For the Polenta, cook the Polenta, water, milk, butter, salt, and pepper together. Keep on low heat and stir continuously for about 5 minutes.
- Keep your attention towards the Polenta, cause it can burn on really quickly and cooks up super fast. Remove it from the heat once it starts to boil up.
- Spread half amount of the polenta into a baking dish to create the first layer.
- For the white sauce, heat up a saucepan with the butter.
- Continue adding in the White flour. Keep on stirring with a whisk on slow heat.
- Then pour in the milk. Stir well, season and keep on whisking the sauce till it gets thick by itself. Remove from the heat and keep aside.
- Preheat your oven to 350 Celsius/ 180 Fahrenheit.
- Mix the Tomato Sauce with the olives, basil, salt, and black pepper
- Spread the mixed tomato sauce over the polenta layer
- Then add the remaining polenta to form the layer over the tomato paste.
- Then spread the white sauce over the polenta to create a creamy layer.
- At last spread the Parmesan Cheese over the white sauce.
- Bake the casserole dish for about 15 minutes at 350 Fahrenheit/180 Celsius.
Notes
- Use a homemade or readymade tomato sauce. I made my own chunky tomato sauce by adding whole onions to it for texture. You can add regular ragu as well.
