Baked Polenta With Crispy Leeks and Blue Cheese
Published March 26, 2019
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for pan
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock, preferably homemade
½ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more as needed
1 cup polenta (coarse or regular, not instant)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
2 medium leeks, halved and sliced
4 ounces 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 (4 to 6 servings)
31 grams carbs; 34 milligrams cholesterol; 351 calories; 9 grams monosaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 20 grams fat; 2 grams fiber; 584 milligrams sodium; 11 grams protein; 4 grams sugar
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
Made this last night and it was a big hit. One suggestion: when cooking the leeks, add the salt after they are crispy. If you add it while they are cooking, they will sweat and slow the browning.
Followed the recipe and the polenta came out perfectly. We used the Gorgonzola as suggested. Next time I might mix it all in to melt vs having more concentrated pieces. We found the concentrated pieces to be a little strong for our taste. Leeks were delicious. I made sure my oil was good and hot.
Truly superb. I used method for oven polenta from another recipe I have, and used water and milk vs. stock, which I did not have. Otherwise exactly the same. Just brilliant and 'fancy' enough for NYE indulgence
What if I want to speed things up with the pre-cooked polenta?