Polenta Lasagna, Day 54, 7/21/11

The other "Amy I" and I went to high school together.  And she has been a vegetarian for like 20 years now.  Since I started this adventure 54 days ago, she has been a great source of information and encouragement.  A couple of weeks ago, she sent me a recipe for Polenta Lasagna.  I made it and haven't had a chance to sit down and write about it until now.

The following is the recipe that she sent, with my pictures added in.  It's important to note that her recipe uses marinara sauce, but since I don't care for marinara, I substituted with a jarred Roasted Garlic Parmesan sauce.  So the words are going to say "marinara," but the pictures will have a white sauce.  Use your imagination.  :-)

Polenta Lasagna

1 (26 oz) jar marinara sauce, divided

1 tsp EVOO

1 c. chopped onion

1/2 c. chopped red pepper
1 c. meatless sausage crumbles (Lightlife Gimme Lean, in a tube, was recommended by Amy and it's what I used in this recipe.)

1 c. chopped mushrooms

1/2 c. chopped zucchini

2 garlic cloves

1 (16 oz) tube of polenta, cut in to 18 slices

1/2 c. mozzarella cheese

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2.  Cover bottom on 8" square pan with 1/2 c. marinara

3.  In EVOO, saute onion and bell pepper (I used a mixture of red and green bell peppers) on med-high for about 4 minutes

4.  Stir in "sausage" and cook another 2 min.

5.  Add mushrooms, zucchini and garlic.  Saute another 2 min. or so

6.  Add remaining marinara, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes

7.  Arrange polenta slices over marinara in baking dish 

8.  Top evenly with half of veggie mixture and sprinkle with cheese.  (No, this is not chicken, it's slices of fresh mozzarella.)

9.  Repeat layers

10.  Cover and bake at 350 for 30 min.  Uncover and bake an additional 15 min.

This, unfortunately, from my palate's point of view, is not what I would call one of my culinary successes.  But, I don't think it's Amy's recipe's fault, so I wanted to share it with you anyway.  In fact, my dad loved the version I made.  Yes, I disliked it so much that I took the whole thing over to my parents.

I thought about not writing about this lasagna because it wasn't a "success," but then I thought about it.  I'm not a chef, I'm not a real food blogger, I'm a school counselor that's off for the summer and is experimenting with food...  I'm allowed to make a few missteps.  And I learned from this one that I LOVE polenta.  This newly acquired knowledge makes this a success in my eyes and it's the reason I wanted to share this recipe with you. 

I had a few little pieces of the polenta left after building the layers of lasagna and I just ate them plain.  I'm not sure if I've ever really eaten polenta before, and I know I've never cooked with it.  I had no idea that corn meal cooked in water could be so flavorful.  It has a shockingly deep almost meaty flavor to it like nothing I've ever eaten before.  And at the same time, it's a little bit buttery.  I'm so excited to have made this discovery.  Polenta is something I'm going to add to my cooking arsenal.  I'm looking forward to trying it many different ways.  If it's not something you're very familiar with, you should check it out.

So, why didn't I like the lasagna?  First of all, I used too much sauce in mine.  And I think as you cook marinara it thickens, but as I cooked this roasted garlic sauce it seemed to get thinner.  What you see in that picture of the top of the finished lasagna isn't melted cheese, it's a lot of soupy sauce. 

But for me, the BIG reason that I didn't like this lasagna was the meatless sausage.  At first I loved the stuff.  It has a texture very similar to bulk sausage made with meat and actually browned up like sausage would.  Unluckily for me, it is made with a lot of the same herb or spice that is the reason why I don't like marinara...  I've never been able to put my finger on exactly what it is, but this sausage was FULL of it!  Maybe it tasted like Italian sausage??  I don't like that either.  Whatever it is, it ruined the whole meal for me.  :-(

But if you like marinara, and most of the world does, I'm betting you would love this Polenta Lasagna.  Give it a try.  It might help you "discover" polenta, like it did me.