Easy Oven-Baked Pumpkin Polenta
Kitchen Tested 
- Yield 6 servings
- Prep 15 mins
- Cook 50 mins
This rustic cornmeal dish makes a nice change from mashed potatoes. Serve with roast pork, chicken, beef or meatloaf.
Mark Boughton / styling by Teresa Blackburn
Because the polenta is baked in the oven, not slow-cooked on stovetop, it requires little fuss.
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 4 cups water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 cup stone-ground cornmeal (not instant or pre-cooked polenta)
- 1 1/2 cups cooked pumpkin, coarsely mashed
- 1/4 cup sour cream or heavy cream
- 1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup shredded Gruyère or Jarlsberg cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Generously coat a 3-quart baking dish with cooking spray.
- Combine water, salt and cornmeal in dish, mixing well (the mixture will separate). Bake, uncovered, 40 minutes. Remove from oven; stir in pumpkin, sour cream, pepper, nutmeg and half the cheeses. Bake 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven, top with remaining cheese, and place under the broiler for a few minutes, until top is brown and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe by Crescent Dragonwagon
