Category:
Baked Savouries

Polenta Bombe

Ingredients:

polenta
green olives
shallot
parsley
olive oil
garlic
sea salt
poppy seed
red wine
sweet potato

Make polenta, as per our basic recipe. Smooth it onto slightly moistened baking sheets while still hot, with a moistened wooden spoon, so that it has a uniform depth of about fifteen millimeters. Allow to cool and set.
After several hours, cut the polenta into uniform squares ten centimeters on a side. Set the squares briefly on a towel to soak up any errant moisture.
Rinse and pit thirty green olives, and chop them into small pieces. Add a couple of shallots and a few sprigs of parsley, each minced.
Take one polenta square, smooth side up, and cover it with olive mixture. Put another square, rough side up, on top. Brush the top lightly with olive oil. Repeat with the others. Arrange all of the filled shapes in an oiled rectangular baking dish.
Thoroughly crush a clove or two of garlic along with some coarse sea salt. Heat a teaspoonful of strongly flavoured olive oil in a skillet and add the garlic and salt. When the garlic begins to colour add a cup of freshly ground poppy seed, and when those are hot, half a cup of red wine. Cook, stirring, for two minutes. Peel and chop a large sweet potato into a juliènne the thickness of straws. Fill all the spaces between the polenta islands with this, pressing it down gently. Then pour the poppy seed mixture over all. Bake in a preheated moderate oven for thirty minutes. Serve hot, with plain lentil purée and freshly chopped parlsey.

Notes:

It's best, due to the acidity of the wine, to use a non-metallic pan to bake this in.

Recipe Index

More Meals:

Black Bean Buns  | Cool Dumplings in Hot Sauce | One Pot Hot | Black Bean Pie |  Straight from the Pot | Homely Ravioli  | Lima Bean Stew  | Cabbage Rolls with Kasha and Lentils | Timbale of Lentils and Rice | Doublable Beans | Panisse Euclid