warm pumpkin polenta with goat cheese
You had me at warm polenta with goat cheese. Seriously. I was flipping through Shauna James and Danny Ahern’s newest cookbook “Gluten-free Girl and the Chef,” when I came across their recipe for warm polenta with goat cheese.
Polenta reminds me of Patrick. Rather it reminds me of those first few dates where we were getting to know each other and he tried to woo me with food (food is also the quickest way to win a woman’s heart!). I don’t think I’d ever made polenta at home before meeting him. I certainly had eaten it many times at various restaurants, but for some reason I never thought to make it at home (the same is true with risotto which he also made for me).
The first time we made polenta together was for a dinner party at my cousin Stefano’s house. We made the critical mistake of using full-sodium chicken stock and not tasting the polenta before adding the salt. To fix it, we made a second batch of the recipe using water and no salt. We then mixed the two together. The result? An *aggressively seasoned*, but tolerable polenta (that was actually widely praised at the dinner party), and a lot of leftovers.
The next morning I wandered, sleepy eyed, into Patrick’s tiny apartment kitchen wondering what to make for breakfast. I noticed a bottle of syrup (mostly full) on the door of the refrigerator, and thought about making polenta fries to dip in syrup. Patrick isn’t really a pancake, waffle, or anything-that-you-pour-syrup-over-except-bacon kinda guy, but I thought the salty/sweet combination might be worth a shot.
Patrick, clearly being the polenta expert in the house, showed me how to cut the cold polenta into rectangles and fry them on each side until nice and golden brown. While Patrick finished cooking the fries, I made syrup. I never really enjoyed the regular store-bought syrup since I grew up in a family that made their own… Although I wouldn’t turn down 100% pure maple syrup. I’m ALL about that. But since all we had on hand that morning was the generic store brand syrup, I set out to make our own. White sugar, brown sugar, mapleine and a bit of water. That’s it. Nothing fancy. No synthetic butter flavoring, just a light maple sweetness.
Standing side-by-side in our pajamas, we took turns dipping the salty polenta fries into the sweet syrup, occasionally pausing to lick our syrup-laden fingers clean (the syrup should cool so that it thickens up a bit, but we were impatient and hungry).
This great morning is what I thought of when I came across the Ahern’s warm polenta with goat cheese recipe. I was eager to try it with a few minor changes. Lately dairy has been giving Patrick fits so instead of the [cow] milk we used goat milk and instead of butter, we used a vegan butter spread. We also found a great sheep’s milk manchego which we used in place of the parmesan. And to give it a little thanksgiving twist, we roasted and then pureed a sugar pumpkin to add to the polenta.
The recipe, adapted from their cookbook is as follows:
1 small sugar pumpkin, roasted (you will want to yield about 1 1/2 c. of pumpkin mash)
2 tablespoons EVOO
2 large shallots, peeled, and thinly sliced
1 tsp thinly sliced garlic
1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 ½ cups goat milk
1 ½ cups water
1 cup gluten-free fine cornmeal
1 tbsp vegan butter
¼ cup grated manchego
1 tsp each of kosher salt and cracked black pepper
2 ounces goat cheese
- Slice the pumpkin in wedges, coat with olive oil, and sprinkle salt and pepper over the top. Add freshly chopped sage if desired. Roast the pumpkin wedges in a 400 degree oven until soft, 30 to 40 minutes. Cut the meat away from the pumpkin rind and mash or puree it until soft and uniform in texture.
- In a skillet, sauté the shallots and garlic in the EVOO, and stir until soft and translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Toss in the rosemary until fragrant.
- Add the milk and water. Add the cornmeal as soon as the liquids come to a boil and turn the heat down to medium. Add the pumpkin puree and stir until the polenta becomes one mass and pulls away from the sides of the pan, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Stir in butter until incorporated. Then add parmesan and season (to TASTE!) with salt and pepper. Scoop into bowls and serve with a dollop of goat cheese.
We paired our lovely pumpkin polenta with a Cabernet braised beef short rib with apricots and cranberries.
Scrumdidaliumptious!
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25 comments 
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November 15th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
[...] Charissa Fleischer of Zest Bakery made warm pumpkin polenta with goat cheese. [...]
November 15th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
More Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Dishes
[...]
Zest Bakery | warm pumpkin polenta with goat cheese
[...]
November 15th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Be sure to visit the following participating food blogs (many are not 100% gluten-free food blogs, which makes it all the more exciting to read about the author’s experience cooking and eating gluten-free…and oh my goodness, all the foods are simply stunning!).
[...] Zest Bakery (Warm Pumpkin Polenta with Goat Cheese) [...]
November 15th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
For other delicious gluten-free recipes, check out these other fantastic folks who participated in this gluten-free Thanksgiving fun in the links below!
[...]
Zest Bakery | warm pumpkin polenta with goat cheese
[...]
November 15th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
Oh my! This just looks fantastic. Very nice presentation.
November 15th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Why thank you! Tastes pretty darn good too.
November 15th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
I am among a posse of bloggers who tested her recipes Shauna’s gluten-free recipes this week. See what everyone else thought about the gluten-free Thanksgiving dishes:
[...] Zest Bakery | warm pumpkin polenta with goat cheese
[...]
November 15th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
This looks delicious. I will have to try this soon.
November 16th, 2010 at 1:51 am
I have to try polenta now! Especially with pumpkin.
November 16th, 2010 at 2:28 am
What a great story (and great visual) of you and your man sharing polenta fries.
November 16th, 2010 at 6:44 am
The color of the polenta looks so rich and vibrant. I’m sure the flavors are rich as well. I actually have never made polenta before but I always enjoy it whenever I have it when we dine out. Definitely a must-try!
It was lovely meeting you and Patrick the other day. Looking forward to checking out your bakery soon!
Jun
November 16th, 2010 at 7:22 am
OHmigosh, I love polenta. This looks astounding.
November 16th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Questions from someone on reddit: In step 2, when you say to saute the veggies, does that include the pumpkin? And about how much pumpkin puree did you end up with?
November 16th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Lovely! Like you, I rarely make polenta at home. It just never occurs to me to make it! Though we do make risotto on occasion.
That said, your polenta sounds great, and I love love LOVE the story of you making polenta fries for breakfast and making your own maple syrup (we always have pure maple syrup around to use, but it never occurs to me to make your own syrup with mapleine. I didn’t even know people did that!
Your photos, by the way, are gorgeous! I love the ingredient shots! It’s so great to see where everything comes from, and then what it becomes! Like a before and after shot, only WAY more interesting!
November 16th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
LOVE polenta, never tried it with pumpkin! I can’t wait to try it!
November 16th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Thanks Jun! I was tempted to roast a second pumpkin or dig out some of the canned stuff since the polenta absorbed it so well. But the taste with just one pumpkin was spot on. Let me know if you do try it.
Lovely to meet you too. Looking forward to future blog posts and seeing you again!
November 16th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
Thanks, Serene!
November 16th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
I will clarify in the recipe. I did not saute the pumpkin again after roasting. After nibbling on pieces directly from the pan we ended up with about 1 1/2 cups worth of puree.
Thanks for forwarding the reddit questions!
November 16th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Thanks, Irvin! So glad you enjoyed the story. It was fun reminiscing about it.
Yes, the syrup is so easy. We try to have maple syrup in the house too but SOMEBODY always uses it up. :-p
I’m definitely still finding my voice with the photography, and I have to credit Patrick with adjusting the camera settings for me most of the time. I’ll learn it one of these days!
November 16th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Thanks, Wendy! Would love to hear how it turns out for you.
November 18th, 2010 at 5:45 am
What a great early-dating story. I love when foods instantly transport us to lovely memories!
I make polenta quite often, but always the same: cooked with water and whole milk, with copious amounts of butter stirred in at the end. Sometimes grated Parm added to it. And we always love it. Although I think I may have completely missed the bus to polenta nirvana by never adding anything ELSE to it! But roasted pumpkin puree? Genius! Thank you for the inspiration!
November 21st, 2010 at 8:09 pm
That’s a lovely story and a delicious-sounding recipe. Thanks for dropping by my post, too. I told my partner about your bakery and he’s excited to visit, the next time we’re in the Bay srea.
November 21st, 2010 at 11:40 pm
Hi Teresa, Thanks for the comment. I hope you do get a chance to stop in and say hello next time you are in the area!
November 25th, 2010 at 4:00 am
This recipe instantly attracted me, everything about it sounds just right. We are about to make it and I realized in your numbered instructions you never actually mention when to add the pumpkin to the mix. At the same time as the cornmeal? After the polenta is coming away from the sides of the pan? We are going to wing it, I hope it comes out well!
November 26th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Thanks! I added it at the same time as the cornmeal and made the fix to the recipe. I’d love to hear how it turned out for you!