Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Polenta Pizza with Caramelized Onions, Mushrooms, Spinach & Gorgonzola

I have a new food love and it is polenta. One of the many polenta dishes that I have recently made include polenta pizza. 

All you need to do is make the crust and add whatever toppings you fancy. I happen to fancy caramelized onions and cheese. 

Polenta Pizza

1/2 cup skim milk
1 cup coarse cornmeal
2 onions, chopped
1-2 packages sliced white mushrooms (I don't know what size)
1 bunch of washed spinach
1 cup Gorgonzola cheese

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Spray cookie sheet with non-stick spray.  
3. Cook the polenta until thick and then spread onto the cookie sheet to form the crust. 
4. You don't know how to cook the polenta? In a sauce pan, combine 1/2 cup skim milk with 2 1/2 cups water (you may want to season with salt). When it begins to boil, reduce heat (to simmer), and add 1 cup cornmeal in a steady stream. Whisk until the mixture is thick. 
5. Sprinkle "crust" (remember you spread it onto the cooking sheet?) with salt and pepper. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (at least one hour).
6. Caramelize the onions and saute mushrooms & spinach until desired texture is achieved. 
7. Bake "crust" until it begins to brown (25 minutes). 
8. Take "crust" out of oven, sprinkle with Gorgonzola cheese and add toppings (vegetables). 
9. Bake until cheese melts.

The spinach was very crispy and next time I will make this pizza only using onions, mushrooms, and cheese. 

Per reader request, here is the NI for the crust based on 1/4 of the pizza:


The NI with the toppings (note it was calculated using raw onion and I believe the sugars in caramelized onions would increase the calories):


Recipe was taken (slightly modified) from the New York Times and I have also seen similar polenta pizza recipes in cookbooks (I think Vegetarian Times). 

2 comments:

Robyn said...

This sounds (and looks) delicious! Do you know how many this serves/how many calories there are per serving?

Diet Porn said...

I calculated and added the NI to the original post.

One of the recipes for polenta pizza recommended adding one TBSP oil to the polenta before spreading it out into the crust. I think this would have enhanced the crust. However, I am all about saving calories/fat. (Without reducing the cheese!)