One of the most comforting meals Nanna would make was polenta lasagna. Polenta offers a hearty alternative to pasta with a creamy, rich texture. Polenta is a Northern Italian dish made of coarsely ground corn. Polenta is very filling on it’s own, making it a wonderful vegetarian meal. The perfect bite has rich tomato sauce, melty mozzarella, bits of basil and soft polenta.
Wise Words From Nanna
Polenta- Nanna always put her polenta in the freezer for about thirty minutes prior to assembling the lasagna to make it easier to slice. Also when she unwrapped the polenta from its packaging she would dry the excess moisture off with paper towel.
Vegetables- We only added peas to our recipe (because of a picky toddler) but Nanna would usually add peas and mushrooms to her Polenta Lasagna.
Serves: 6 people
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 1 Hour
Ingredients:
1 tube of pre-cooked polenta (2.2 pounds)
3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup of fine grated parmesan cheese
Handful of basil leaves roughly chopped
1 recipe of Sunday Sauce
1 cup of peas
Instructions:
- Make one recipe of Sunday sauce. In the last 30 minutes of cooking add your peas.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Slice the polenta into ½ inch thin rounds
- Cover the bottom of a large casserole dish with the sauce and put a layer of polenta rounds on top. Cover as much of the bottom of the dish as you can.
- Cover the layer of polenta in sauce and top with mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and chopped basil leaves (remember to reserve cheese and sauce for the following layers)
- Repeat this step at least twice more (until you run out of polenta slices)
- Cover the top layer in extra mozzarella, parmesan and basil.
- Cover with tinfoil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes.
Buon appetito!
With love,
M & A xo