Baked Polenta With Crispy Leeks and Blue Cheese
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 3tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for pan
- 1quart chicken or vegetable stock, preferably homemade
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more as needed
- 1cup polenta (coarse or regular, not instant)
- 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
- 2medium leeks, halved and sliced
- 4ounces Gorgonzola dolce or other creamy blue cheese, cut into ½-inch pieces (about 1 cup)
- Chopped parsley or basil, for garnish
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
351 calories; 20 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 9 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 31 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 11 grams protein; 584 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9-by-9-inch baking dish. In a large pot, bring stock, 2 tablespoons butter and salt to a boil.
- Step 2
Reduce heat to medium, then slowly add polenta, stirring constantly until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Step 3
Scrape polenta into prepared dish, cover with foil, and bake for 40 minutes.
- Step 4
As polenta bakes, prepare the leeks: Heat remaining 1 tablespoon butter and 3 tablespoons oil, in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in leeks and a large pinch of salt, and cook until dark golden and crisped, stirring frequently, and lowering heat if they start to brown too quickly, 10 to 12 minutes. Season with salt to taste.
- Step 5
Remove polenta from oven. Stir in half the Gorgonzola, then cover again with foil, and let sit for 10 minutes to melt the cheese.
- Step 6
When ready to serve, taste polenta and stir in more salt, if needed (this will depend on how salty your cheese and stock are). Drizzle polenta with olive oil, and sprinkle with remaining Gorgonzola, crispy leeks, and parsley or basil.
Private Notes
Comments
A baking dish and a stovetop pot? Le Creuset dutch ovens (or other enameled cast iron pots, like the knockoff TJ Maxx ones) are the foolproof to cook polenta, stovetop or oven. Keeps the heat even, goes from stovetop to oven without dirtying two separate vessels, looks good set right onto the table, and cleans up easily if it does get a little burnt or crunchy.
By saying the words “would” and “ will be “, are you making a guess that the recipie “ will be” too loose, or did you actually make it and it turned out too loose? Not being sarcastic, it just seems from your wording that you haven’t actually made it yet
When I make polenta on the stovetop, there is always a rather substantial crust of grits that cleave to the side of the dutch oven. I take it, fill it with water, and let it sit overnight. The next day, the remaining polenta peels easily from the side of the pan. I take the strips of polenta that are like thick paper, dry them in paper towel and then toast them. Little butter and salt...Yum!
This is a delicious and comforting recipe. I found that about 2oz of blue cheese stirred in was plenty—more on top would have been overpowering. The leeks add wonderful texture. My family was obsessed with this dish! Recommend serving with something acidic like a salad.
A little sloppier than other baked polenta’s I tired, so I’d recommend increasing the ratio of polenta to stock, say 3/2 cups of polenta and 5 cups of stock, other than that, this was pretty delicious
Made it without any ingredient modifications and it was such a hit! I first cooked leeks in a cast iron which I then removed the leeks but kept the oil in there and poured the polenta in there to put in the oven. This is an easily modifiable recipe based on what you have on hand so I'm sure I'll be making variations of this in the future but also so good as is.