So I had an idea to make another dinner with polenta but it was kinda like the last thing I made with polenta, but I was hoping it would be different enough I could add it to the list of things to make. But it actually turned out to be almost exactly like the Turkey And Polenta Bake I had made. The polenta I buy is in a tube, like a roll of sausage, But it is hard, not mushy. I was still thinking I could roll it out so that I could put the rolled out rounds of polenta in muffin pans then fill ’em. But the polenta did not flatten when I tried to roll it out, it just started breaking up. So, I ended up just putting the sliced rounds in the bottom of the muffin cups.
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Meat Topped Polenta Rounds
Olive oil
1 leek
9 mushrooms
1 tsp garlic
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cardamom
3/4 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp thyme
1 tube of polenta
1 lb beef
2 cups shredded cheese
(green onions and sour cream)
Chop the leek and slice the mushrooms, then cook the leek for a few minutes in the olive oil over medium heat. Then add the sliced mushrooms to the pan, add half the garlic and half the salt – reserving the rest for later (when you add the meat). Continue to cook and stir, then add the rest of the spices.
While the mushrooms and leek are cooking, preheat the oven to 425° F. Then slice the polenta. I sliced mine so I would have enough to fit into both my pans. One isn’t even a muffin pan. Grease the muffin pan. Then put a polenta round into each muffin well. Brush some olive oil on each round. Bake the polenta for 15 to 20 minutes. Check on them. I wanted mine to have cooked to where the edges were getting crispy.
Back to the mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms until they are almost done – you decide how done you want them – then add the meat to the pan. Cook the meat a bit, then add the rest of the garlic and salt. Cook the meat until it is pretty much done, but don’t overcook it because it has to be in the oven a bit still.
Once the meat is cooked to your satisfaction, put a tiny bit of cheese on the polenta, then fill the muffin cups (on top of the polenta) with the meat veggie mixture. Top each meat filled cup with cheese, then bake for 10 to 20 minutes.
After the cheese is melted and everything is cooked to your satisfaction, just pop the meat topped polenta rounds onto a plate to serve. (I forgot to take a picture of this part.)
You can top them with sour cream and green onions. I forgot to buy one (sour cream) and I forgot to use the other (green onions).
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This was good, but it was not what I had planned and it was so much like my other dish I almost didn’t post about it. I liked it better though because the polenta was “crispy” and that is what I had wanted in the other recipe. This one was also good because it was different flavors than “taco flavor”.
My plan – aside from rolling out the polenta, was to use corn and peppers, but we received two leeks in our produce box and I need to start using the produce right away, so I decided to use the leek instead. I didn’t think there would be enough room in the muffins cups to hold meat, mushrooms, leek, corn, and peppers. Perhaps next time I’ll do the corn and peppers sans leeks.
My plan was also to start cooking earlier and take pictures of every thing, ingredients, and each step, but I started late and was on the phone while I was cooking so I almost forgot about the pictures.
So what would you put on your polenta rounds?
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