Polenta Cakes Recipes

LEMON POLENTA CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line the bottom of a 10-inch cake pan with parchment paper.
• Beat the sugar and butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. The mixture should be noticeably lighter in color. Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next.
• In a separate bowl, combine the almond meal, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Gently fold it into the butter mixture, stirring just until combined.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 90 to 120 minutes.
• While the cake is baking, combine the lemon juice and superfine sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil until the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is reduced by half. Remove from heat.
• Remove the cake from the oven and use a skewer or toothpick to prick holes in the cake. Pour the lemon syrup over the surface. Allow the cake to cool in the pan completely before serving.

SPICY POLENTA CAKES

Steps:

• Combine the milk, salt and 2 cups water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat and slowly whisk in the polenta. Cook, whisking constantly, until the polenta tightens and there are no lumps, about 4 minutes. Stir in the queso blanco, butter, cilantro, pepper and jalapeno. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
• Generously butter a 9-by-9-inch baking pan. Pour the polenta into the pan and set aside to cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours, until firm.
• Preheat a griddle pan over medium heat. Invert the polenta onto a clean cutting board and slice it into nine 3-inch squares. Brush the squares on both sides with the olive oil, then griddle them until golden brown and warmed through, about 3 minutes per side. While warm, drizzle the polenta cakes with the honey and squeeze lime juice over the top. Serve.

LEMON POLENTA CAKE

Steps:

• This cake is a sort of Anglo-Italian amalgam. The flat, plain disc is reminiscent of the confections that sit geometrically arranged in patisserie windows in Italy; the sharp, syrupy sogginess borrows from the classic English teatime favorite, the lemon drizzle cake. It is a good marriage: I love Italian cooking in all respects save one - I find their cakes both too dry and too sweet. Here, though, the flavorsome grittiness of the polenta and tender rubble of ground almond meal provide so much better a foil for the wholly desirable dampness than does the usual flour.
• But there is more to it than that. By some alchemical process, the lemon highlights the eggy butteriness of the cake, making it rich and sharp at the same time. If you were to try to imagine what lemon curd would taste like in cake form, this would be it.
• Although I am greedily happy to slice and cram messily straight into my mouth, letting damp clumps fall where they will, this cake is best eaten - in company at least - with spoon and fork. Either way, consider it a contender for teatime comfort and supper-party celebration alike.
• For the cake: Line the base of your cake pan with parchment paper and grease its sides lightly with butter. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Beat the butter and sugar till pale and whipped, either by hand in a bowl with a wooden spoon, or using a freestanding mixer.
• Mix together the almond meal, polenta and baking powder, and beat some of this into the butter-sugar mixture, followed by 1 egg, then alternate dry ingredients and eggs, beating all the while.
• Finally, beat in the lemon zest and pour, spoon or scrape the mixture into your prepared pan and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. It may seem wibbly but, if the cake is cooked, a cake tester should come out cleanish and, most significantly, the edges of the cake will have begun to shrink away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the oven to a wire cooling rack, but leave in its pan.
• For the syrup: Make the syrup by boiling together the lemon juice and confectioners' sugar in a smallish saucepan. Once the confectioners' sugar has dissolved into the juice, you're done. Prick the top of the cake all over with a cake tester (a skewer would be too destructive), pour the warm syrup over the cake, and leave to cool before taking it out of its pan.
• Make Ahead Note: The cake can be baked up to 3 days ahead and stored in airtight container in a cool place. Will keep for total of 5 to 6 days.
• Freeze Note: The cake can be frozen on its lining paper as soon as cooled, wrapped in double layer of plastic wrap and a layer of foil, for up to 1 month. Thaw for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature.

POLENTA CAKES WITH MUSHROOM RAGU

Steps:

• Gather your ingredients.
• Heat the 4 cups of vegetable broth in a saucepan on high heat until boiling. Add the polenta, lower heat to medium, and cook, whisking occasionally until it is tender, about 5 minutes.
• Whisk in the cream, parmesan cheese and butter and continue cooking until the butter is melted. Take off the heat and allow to cool for a minute.
• Grease a small sheet pan with cooking spray and pour the polenta into the pan. Smooth the polenta with a silicone spatula so it sits evenly in the pan. Allow to cool and then cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
• Remove the polenta from the refrigerator and cut into 8 equal-sized squares or rounds. Use a biscuit cutter if cutting into rounds. Lightly dust both sides of each cake with flour.
• Preheat oven to 200 F. Heat a cast iron skillet on high heat and add half of the olive oil. When the oil is warm, place 3-5 of the polenta cakes in the pan and cook each side until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pan and place on a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Add the rest of the oil and repeat with the remaining cakes. Place the cooked cakes in the oven to keep them warm while you prepare the ragu. Alternatively, you can prepare the ragu ahead of time and heat it when you are ready to serve.
• Gather your ingredients.
• Add the mushrooms, olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a cast iron skillet and cook until the mushrooms are golden brown, about 5-7 minutes.
• Add the shallots, carrots, garlic, thyme, and ground black pepper to the mushrooms and saute for another 2 minutes.
• Add in the tomato paste and stir to combine.
• Add in the vegetable broth, wine, and balsamic vinegar. Stir to combine and simmer on low heat for 8-10 minutes.
• Gather your ingredients.
• Add all of the ingredients to your food processor and blend until smooth and whipped in appearance, about 1 minute.
• To serve, arrange polenta cakes on each plate. Spoon the ragu over the cakes and top with the herbed ricotta. Sprinkle with more chopped basil if you wish.

POLENTA CAKES WITH FRESH SALSA

Steps:

• In a large heavy saucepan, bring water and salt to a boil. Reduce heat to a gentle boil; slowly whisk in cornmeal. Stir in serrano pepper, garlic and pepper. Cook and stir with a wooden spoon for 12-17 minutes or until polenta is thickened and pulls away cleanly from the sides of the pan. Stir in cheese., Spread into a greased 8-in. square baking dish. Cool slightly; cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours., For salsa, in a small bowl, combine the tomatoes, asparagus, green onions, cilantro, serrano pepper, salt and pepper; set aside., Cut polenta into eight pieces. Moisten a paper towel with cooking oil; using long-handled tongs, lightly coat the grill rack. Grill, covered, over medium heat for 5-7 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Serve with salsa; garnish with cheese if desired.

FRIED POLENTA CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• In a 1 to 1 1/2 quart oven-safe container, stir together water, salt, pepper, and polenta
• Add butter to the mixture, cut up in chunks.
• Place container, uncovered, in center rack of oven and bake 40 minutes.
• Open oven, pull out rack, add parmesan, and any other ingredients like sun-dried tomatoes, olives, lemon zest, herbs, shallots, cilantro etc. and let bake another 10 minutes.
• Pull out of oven and let rest in refrigerator 20 minutes to over-night.
• In frying pan, on medium-high, heat oil.
• Spoon about half a cup of polenta into the pan at a time, fry until golden brown on each side.
• Let cakes rest about 3-5 minutes and serve.

HARD POLENTA CAKES

Steps:

• In a saucepan combine the milk, water, bay and cayenne. Bring the mixture to a boil over low heat and season generously with salt. Take the seasoning to the edge of too salty. To do this you MUST taste as you go. Polenta acts as a salt eraser, if you don't season abundantly here you will never recover from it.
• Once the liquid is at a boil and is seasoned appropriately, sprinkle in the polenta whisking constantly. Once the polenta is combined switch over to a wooden spoon and stir frequently until the polenta has become thick. Taste the polenta to see if it has cooked through. If it still feels mealy and grainy, add some more milk or water and cook it to a thick consistency. Repeat this process, as needed, until the polenta feels smooth on your tongue, about 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and stir in the chopped sage and mascarpone.
• Line a 7 by 7-inch square pan with plastic wrap. Pour the polenta into the prepared pan. Cover the top with more plastic smoothed onto the surface of the polenta. Chill in the refrigerator until needed. (All of this can totally be done ahead of time, like yesterday! Cool!)
• When ready to use, remove the polenta from the pan and cut into desired shapes. Coat a nonstick saute pan with olive oil and bring to medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot and starting to smoke just a little, add the polenta shapes. Cook the polenta on both sides and finish by sprinkling with a little bit grated Parmigiano. Transfer to a serving platter and serve while hot.
• What a corncake!!!!

POLENTA CAKES

Steps:

• Bring water or broth to a boil and add cornmeal and salt. Reduce heat to low and stir for 5 mintues. Add 1/4 cup of cheese and stir until melted and well combined. Remove from heat, cover, and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
• Cut a piece of parchment paper to line a 9x13" baking pan, allowing for enough parchment paper to come up over the edge to make it easy to lift polenta cake once cooled. Refrigerate for at least two hours, or overnight.
• Gently remove polenta from baking pan and place on a cutting board. Cut into desired shapes using a sharp knife or bisucuit cutter.
• Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a non-stick saute pan. Working in batchs of 3-4 at a time, saute each cake for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown.
• Remove from pan using a slotted spatula and plate on a serving dish or single plate. Top with remaining cheese, rosemary, salt and papper.