Thursday, August 12, 2010

Pesto Polenta Lasagna

This is another bridal shower recipe from Renee, who has worked with my dad for 12 years! I have never cooked with polenta before so was quite intrigued by this recipe. It was fabulous! I love this as a substitute to regular noodle lasagna. The flavors were perfect and delicious. The recipe suggested adding in a layer of sauteed mushrooms. I only had a few, but did add them in, and I highly recommend using them if you like mushrooms. A layer of spinach would be good here, too, I think.



Ingredients:
1 (18 ounce) package polenta, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices (broil in the oven for a few minutes for added flavor)
1 (24 ounce) jar bottled marinara sauce
1/4 cup pesto
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 (8 ounce) package mushrooms (optional), sliced and sauteed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Oil an 11x7x2 inch baking dish.

Arrange a single layer of polenta in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.


Spread a thin layer of pesto over the polenta.


Spoon half of the sauce over the polenta.


Top with another layer of polenta and sauce. I added the sauteed mushrooms in over the second layer of polenta. A layer of sauteed spinach could be nice in here too!




Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Turn on the broiler. Top polenta with cheese and pine nuts, and broil until cheese browns and nuts are toasted (just a couple of minutes).


Serve and top with fresh basil, if desired.

Servings: 8
Calories per serving: 179

Notes:

  • Polenta is made from cornmeal and is sometimes dubbed "Italian grits" because it has a similar texture.

  • The only polenta I could find (in the international section of my grocery store near the pasta and marinara sauces) was garlic and basil flavored, not sure how much that contributed to the overall flavor of this dish, but I loved it!
  • I placed the polenta rounds on a greased cookie sheet and but them under the broiler for about 5 minutes before using them.

  • I used store-bought pesto (found in the pre-made section of the grocery store).

  •  I sauteed the mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil until soft.



9 comments:

white collar | green soul said... [Reply to comment]

Dude, you're aweosome. I am so making this. Looks delicious! And no meat - Bonus!

Lois Houston said... [Reply to comment]

This looks very, very tasty. All my favorite foods. MUST try.
Thanks for sharing!
Visiting from SITS.

anniebakes said... [Reply to comment]

I am always scared off by polenta, but this I think I could handle!! Thanks for sharing,

anne
www.anniebakes.net

Sarah said... [Reply to comment]

Yum! I love polenta, so this looks great. I'll have to write this down and make this. Thanks for sharing :)

Melanie said... [Reply to comment]

Sitsgal, but I really just stopped by because I subscribed and this looked kind of good. What is Polenta though? I've never heard of it. It looks really good though. Where do you find Polenta? Do you need a special shop or is it in a section in the store somewhere?

lasagna said... [Reply to comment]

Wow, if it looks this good, I could probably pull it off with my four kids. You see they're not a big fan of polenta. But they really love lasagna! Just the other day I made a zucchini lasagna and they eat it without any qualms, as if they didn't know that zucchini is a vegetable, lol! I think they love lasagna too much, that they trust that whatever you put in it is supposed to be good! lol!
Anyway, thanks for sharing this one. I would definitely give this a go really soon.

Lynda said... [Reply to comment]

Wow, that's a great idea. It sounds delicious too!

StepJunkie said... [Reply to comment]

I made my own version of this, based on your inspiration! I used sun-dried tomato pesto, and I did add the sauteed mushrooms. I also found the basil and garlic polenta. This was absolutely delicious! Really easy, too! Thanks for sharing!

Lisa said... [Reply to comment]

this looks incredible, thanks for sharing!

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