Mushroom-Stuffed Polenta Loaf
In the past when I’ve made polenta, I either eat it soft (right when it’s done cooking) or as a patty topped with some sort of sauce. For this recipe, the polenta is firm, but the “sauce” is in the middle. I put sauce in quotations because it’s really just seasoned sauteed mushrooms where I normally would use a mushroom gravy. This is a really easy technique to use in order to change up an old standby recipe.
Polenta:
- 3 cups veggie broth
- 1 cup polenta (corn meal)
- 1 T braggs liquid aminos
- 1 T mustard
- 1/4 c vegan cream cheese
Bring the veggie broth to a boil. Pour the polenta into the boiling water while stirring. Reduce the heat to simmer. Allow the polenta to absorb the water while simmering and stirring frequently. While the polenta cooks prepare the mushrooms (below). When the water is mostly absorbed stir in the braggs, mustard and cream cheese.
Mushrooms:
- 1 cup chopped mushrooms
- 1 T olive oil
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 T Italian seasonings
- 1/2 t salt
- pepper to taste
Saute mushrooms in preheated pan and toss with seasonings. Cook until browned. Set aside until polenta is ready.
When the polenta is thick, pour half of it into a greased loaf pan. Add the mushrooms on top, evenly spread across the loaf. Top with the remaining polenta. Transfer the loaf to the refrigerator and allow it to firm up, at least an hour.
To serve, cut the loaf into slices and sear in a frying pan. Top with sauce of choice or eat plain. Great with sauteed spinach and other veggies.
YIELDS: 4 large servings PREP/COOK TIME: 25 minutes SET TIME: at least 1 hour
