Baked Polenta with Cheese
If you are to ask a romanian to list few staple foods in Romania polenta would definitely be at the top of the list. We eat polenta as a substitute for bread, as a side dish and as a main course.
As I grew up our traditional Sunday morning breakfast was polenta with cheese, french fries and meat stew. Yes you read that right, that was our breakfast and it was delicious. Also, just a note, the next meal was dinner 🙂
Most often polenta is served with cheese and sour cream in Romania so the Baked Polenta with Cheese is a variation of that.
Ingredients:
- 2.5 cups Polenta (you can cook this according to the directions on the pack or follow the steps below)
- 8 cups water
- 1 TSP salt
- 3 TBSP butter
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
- 2-3 cups grated cheese ( i like to use a combination of feta cheese, goat cheese and mozzarella)
- 2 eggs
Preparation
- You can prepare the polenta as directed on the pack or you can do the following: bring 8 cups of water to boil, add salt, stir in polenta and reduce the heat and let it cook for 5-10 minutes over low heat while stirring from time to time. (make sure you have a lid handy as it will start splashing as it comes to a boil)
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
- Cut few pieces of the butter and place them in a 9×13 baking pan
- Divide the polenta in 3, add one layer to the baking pan
- Add 1/2 cups sour cream, more butter and 1/3 of the cheese
- Add another thin layer of polenta, add butter, sour cream and cheese
- Add the final layer of polenta, top with cheese
- Beat the eggs with the remaining sour cream and put over the cheese
- Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the top is golden brown
- Enjoy warm with more sour cream
