CHEESY POLENTA BAKE
A creamy, cheesy polenta bake loaded up with sausages, mushrooms and spring onions. This meal is made warm weather suitable with the addition of a summery zucchini and capsicum salad.
I haven’t cooked much with polenta before, but thought it was about time it made an appearance in one of my menus. The flavour of plain polenta is fairly bland, but once you’ve added the cheese, sausages and mushrooms, you won’t have to worry about that!
At the moment, my only other recipe using polenta is this polenta crumbed fish, so give that a go if you’re looking for ways to use up the rest of the bag.
Quick tip: you can serve the polenta bake with a dollop of tomato relish or chutney, if you have some on hand.
CHEESY POLENTA BAKE
A creamy, cheesy polenta bake loaded up with sausages, mushrooms and spring onions. This meal is made warm weather suitable with the addition of a summery zucchini and capsicum salad.
Ingredients
POLENTA BAKE
- Cooking oil spray
- 300 g button mushrooms (10.6oz)
- 2 spring onions
- 2 cloves garlic
- 6 beef sausages
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 3 cups boiling water (750ml)
- 1 cup milk (250ml)
- 1 1/2 tsp chicken stock powder
- 1 cup polenta (150g)
- 1 cup grated tasty cheddar cheese (100g)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp butter
SALAD
- 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
- 2 zucchini
- 1 red capsicum
- 1 spring onion
- 1 1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180ºC (360ºF) fan bake and grease a 20cm / 8in square oven-safe dish with cooking oil spray.
PREPARE INGREDIENTS
Slice mushrooms, thinly slice spring onions and crush garlic. Squeeze sausage meat out of casings (discard casings). Heat a large frying pan on medium-high. Add sunflower seeds (for salad) and cook until toasted, about 1-2 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
MAKE POLENTA BAKE
Add oil to pan, then add sausage meat and cook, breaking up, until browned all over. Stir in mushrooms, garlic, thyme and oregano and cook until mushrooms are soft (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat.
Place water, milk and stock powder in a medium-large saucepan and bring to the boil. Slowly pour in polenta, whisking continuously to prevent lumps forming. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover with lid and cook for 5 minutes, until mixture is thick and smooth. Stir 3/4 cup cheese and butter into polenta, until melted. You can add a little more milk or water if mixture isn’t soft and creamy enough. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Spoon three quarters of the polenta into the base of prepared dish and top with three quarters of the sausage mixture and spring onions. Gently spread remaining polenta on top, followed by the rest of the sausage, spring onions and remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden.
PREPARE SALAD
Meanwhile, dice zucchini and capsicum. Finely slice spring onion. Place in a salad bowl. Whisk together vinegar, oil, sugar and mustard and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over salad and top with seeds.
SERVE
Cut polenta bake into large pieces and serve with salad.
Recipe Notes
WINE MATCH: Try a Chardonnay.
GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: Make sure sausages are gluten-free. Use gluten-free chicken stock powder.
INGREDIENT SWAPS / NOTES: I used beef and merlot sausages. You can use pork or lamb sausages if you prefer. If you’re eating this meal in cold weather, try serving with green beans and broccolini instead of salad (sauté them with crushed garlic in a little olive oil until tender). This meal is nice served with tomato relish or chutney, if you have some on hand.
STORING AND REHEATING: Refrigerate polenta bake and salad separately. I like to reheat polenta bake in the microwave to just warm through, then finish in the oven to get the golden, crispy edges. It won’t be as soft and creamy when reheated as it is fresh. Salad keeps well after being dressed.
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