I’ve been waiting my whole life to show you this recipe.
Well, 4 days, but that can feel like a lifetime for a person like me.
I’ve actually been waiting my whole life to MAKE this recipe, as it originally hails from bestie Laura and is stuffed and adorned with 14 cups of glorious cheese.
You do know I’m married to a freak who doesn’t like cheese, right? Overnight biz trip for freaky hubs = 14 cups of glorious cheese in Bev’s mouth.
I’ve stared at her recipe for 2 million, 764 years and 81 days because it encompasses pretty much all that is good in this world.
A) It LAYERS! (You know how I love to layer food.)
B) It’s a baked casserole! (I’m from the south and we take our casseroles as seriously as wheatgrass shooters in LA.)
C) The cheese. I’m not kidding when I say that that the shredded and bubbly mozzarella on top of this polenta pie took me straight back to Friday nights in 8th grade at the Pizza Huts with Melissa Berry and her parents as Bon Jovi poured some sugar into our eardrums and we annihilated slice after slice of cheese pizza and didn’t care because we had the metabolism of a superhero and banana clips in our hair.
In short (yeah right) this baked polenta pie is TOP DRAWER. It will rock your dance party and move you to a place of sweet surrender.
Um, high-five, Laura. Well flippin’ done.
Cheers to a safe and wonderful holiday break! I’ll be peepin’ in ever so often with some fun little diddies to share. And of course managing my obsession with Instagram through the therapy of repetitious postings.
Help me.
Baked Polenta Pie:
p.s. the blurry action in this photo wasn’t my fault. I think I got startled or something.
What it took for 4:
* 1 pound roma tomatoes
* 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
* pinch of crushed red pepper
* pinch of coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
* 2 Italian sausage links, casings removed
* 1 Mexican chorizo link
* 1 cup polenta
* 3 cups milk
* 1 Tbs butter
* 1 tsp sugar
* 1/2 tsp coarse salt
* 1 cup freshly grated parmesan
* 2 cups shredded mozzarella
Preheat oven to 375.
Give the tomatoes a rough chop and toss them into a food processor, along with the canned tomatoes. Blitz blitz until smooth.
Toss pureed tomatoes into a medium saucepan, sprinkle with the crushed red pepper and good pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer the sauce, uncovered for 30 minutes. You want it to reduce a bit and get all thick.
Heat a skillet over medium-high and add the sausage. Break up with a wooden spoon and cook until browned. Add the chorizo, break it up and cook as well until softened, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. (If you want to, drain any excess fat from the meat. I did and I felt dang solid about that decision.)
In a large pot, bring the milk, butter, sugar and salt to a light simmer. Slowly add the polenta to the pot, whisking constantly. Once it starts to thicken, trade the whisk out for a spoon and stir until the polenta pulls away from the sides of the pot.
Add half of the parmesan to the polenta and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into a 2 quart casserole dish. Top with the other half of the parmesan.
Evenly spread the sausage/chorizo mixture on top of the polenta.
Spread the tomato sauce over the meat.
Top with the grated mozzarella. Resist slamming your face into it.
Stick it in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Flip it to broil and get that cheese all browned and bubbly. Oh, dear.
Let rest for about 10 minutes, slice and proceed to face-plant it.
One word: want.
I made Jenna’s baked polenta with mushrooms and gorgonzola last month. We ate the entire thing in 2 days. This is soooo being made after the gluttony of Thanksgiving wears off.
My family is a big old group of hillbillies and we do this with leftover cheese grits and pulled chicken. I love the italian flair! (heck, just calling it polenta and not grits makes it sound classier!!) I have a PILE of sage grits that need a home. I bet you know where they’ll find it!
This looks delish~
I’ve been wanting to try making something with Polenta~
So glad I found your lovely blog via Marla!
Subscribing now~
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hugs from Bainbridge Island!
xo
~pinning this recipe big time!
Ok wait…your husband doesn’t like cheese???? Wha???? Wow! Well that just means that there’s more of this yummy pie for us cheese lovers then
What a tasty idea. I’m bookmarking this one 
SO making a veggie version of this! Love polenta!
Looks amazing. I’m not even a fan of polenta but I would love this simply because it’s smothered in cheese!
Uhh…holy amazingness batman!
I love polenta pie! This is fab!
Lots of things to say:
yes to banana clips. A boy in 3rd grade who had a crush on me, squeezed mine once and made it fall out of my hair and I cried because I didn’t know how to put it back in. My mom did my hair. Also, my mom is left handed, so she put my belt on left-handed style when I was a kid. One day, my dad dressed me for school and put my belt on right-handed. I couldn’t figure out how to get it off in the bathroom and peed my pants. Awesome.
yes to casseroles. amen to casseroles. amen to the South!
I’m not crazy about cheese. Only on occassion. I like to save it for special days
Woah, woah, WOAH. This looks full of cheesy goodness = my favorite. What a great combination. I will definitely be trying this sometime — my boyfriend loves polenta, and to be honest, I’ve never made it before! Now I can’t wait
Have a great Thanksgiving, Bev!
HIGH FIVE!
I am in love with polenta. And I don’t love cheese (I know, a freak!) but when it’s hidden inside something like polenta, I’m okay with it. I am verrry okay with this whole layered pie. Very okay.
sooooo this is essentially a cheesy grits casserole… with some meat & tomatoes. GET.IN.MY.MOUTH!!!!!!
I love polenta! ah, if I could eat cheese, I’d eat. this. ALL!
Why can’t you eat cheese? Oh, I’m sad for this!
Posted on Thanks so much for this post. As a writer, my nruaatl inclination is to stay in my cave and write my books. Marketing is hard for me, but your tips are things that I can do!Katherine KaneTraining The City Dog(available on Amazon)
This looks so very delicious and the perfect thing to snuggle up to on a blustery, winter day. I have to admit, I initially read the “14 cups of cheese” and my tummy did a little bit of churning. Blame it on my Eastern European roots.
Haha, it’s just my sense of dramatizing everything coming through. There are only 3 cups.
He doesn’t like cheese? Mine’s the opposite..he’d eat cheese at every meal if I’d serve it.
And this looks great..LOVE the tomato shots. I want that whole bowl!
Oh, I was so hoping for an ACTUAL 14 cups of cheese! I would scarf that like a chocolate bar at fat camp. I may settle for 3 cups though for my first attempt at polenta…
zOMG this looks glorious. bookmarked.
This reminds me of lasagna – would be a great idea for a gluten-free lasagna for my son. He’s not supposed to eat a lot of dairy, but he absolutely loves cheese – might have to make it for a special dinner.
Heaven on a plate. Yes, please!!!
Interesting post. Thank you for allowing this comment’s. Have a nice day.
I’m so glad that I found your lovely blog via Picky Palate. Since it is freezing down here in the south, I’m going to make this delicious-sounding casserole tonight. I can’t wait to cook through your recipes!
Update, 12.02 — This recipe was super delicious! It will be on regular rotation, we love it so!
ummmm this looks ridiculously good. wow. ingredible. my mouth is watering. have you ever tried frying polenta? I just tried last week. http://www.hardlyhousewives.com
You know what the awesome part of this recipe is? I totally know where Jenna got it from! It’s a very traditional South African dish. We call it a “paptert”, basically a “porridge tart” or a “porridge pie”. When I make it, I put bacon bits (or fake bacon bits) in the tomato portion, whole pieces of corn mixed with the polenta, and mushrooms and onions in the tomato portion. It’s my favourite!
What a great looking recipe. I’m joining your site today. Found you on ZITE. This is so great looking I will have to for go my shrimp, cheese and polenta dish this week. Looking forward to browning through your site.
That was supposed to be browsing not browning and me a writer too. Yikes!
Oh sweet friend! We sure loved those banana clips! I’m so very proud of you! This recipe sounds delish. I’ll make it in your honor – sipping wine and playing some good ole 80s tunes. Love you! xoxo
This is baking in my oven as we speak…it’s torture waiting the 30 minutes, omg!!!
Sooo fantastic! Added fresh basil from the garden to the tomato mixture (had to use it up!). Delicious as leftovers…great recipe!