ANNABEL'S ONLINE LESSONS

Eat Fresh - Harvest polenta bake with rocket, capsicums & feta

Harvest polenta bake with rocket, capsicums & feta

Prep	10 minutes
Cook	20 minutes
Serves	4 as a main course

4 cups water
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp salt and grinds of pepper
1 cup quick-cooking polenta
140g rocket, spinach or silverbeet, finely chopped
2 tbsp pesto
¼ cup chopped coriander or mint
150g feta, crumbled
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large capsicums, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed

Preheat oven to 200°C. Place water in a medium saucepan with zest, salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Add polenta in a slow stream, stirring until fully absorbed. Cover and cook for 5 minutes on low heat; the mixture splatters so take care not to burn yourself. Cook until the polenta has a very thick consistency, stir occasionally to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan. (Note: slow-cooking or traditional polenta requires 20-30 minutes cooking and should be stirred often.) Stir in rocket or other chopped greens, pesto, coriander or mint and half the feta.

Grease a 25cm shallow baking dish with a little butter or oil and spoon polenta mixture into dish. Heat oil and cook capsicums and garlic over medium heat until softened, 2-3 minutes. Spoon over polenta and top with remaining feta. Bake 20 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Variations:

In summer I like to make a corn, mint and feta polenta. Prepare polenta as above, stirring in 2 cups corn kernels and ½ cup chopped mint in place of the rocket, pesto and herbs. Use the same amount of feta. Bake as above.

When mushrooms are in season make a mushroom and blue cheese polenta. Prepare polenta as above, using 500g cooked mushrooms and 150g crumbled blue cheese in place of the rocket, pesto, herbs and feta. Slice 500g mushrooms and fry in butter with a little garlic until browned and no longer juicy. Season well. Stir into polenta with half the cheese and scatter the other half on top of the dish with some chopped walnuts before baking as above.