A savoury polenta cake is perfect for just about any occasion: a robust aperitif, a picnic, a packed lunch, a tea snack or even breakfast. It’s an absolute doddle to make and easily flavoured with a hundred and one herbs and vegetables. Serve straight from the oven or later …… gently fried. Delicious!
We often turn to polenta to make sweet cakes, but the more traditional savoury version seems to be out of fashion. Give it a go – it’s so easy and an endlessly versatile healthy snack or lunch.
My fondest memories of polenta cake are of cross-country skiing. The only thing that kept us going was the local bar, with its ice-cold beer and Nicole’s legendary polenta cake. If you were foolish enough to put on a pair of ski de fond skis, this place was your saviour.
Ingredients
Use medium-grain polenta – the texture is tastier for a savoury cake. Although you can make a polenta-type cake by boiling the polenta, then pressing it into a baking tin to set, the baked version is lighter, tastier and more flavorful. It’s perfect straight out of the oven, paired with a mixed salad and a garlicky dressing.
There are endless vegetables you can incorporate into the mixture. You need to blanch them for a very brief moment and dry thoroughly. Grate the courgettes, squeeze to remove excess moisture, and, ideally, lightly steam broccoli/cauliflower. Carrots could go in grated. Onions or peppers should be lightly sautéed to soften. Saucisson, chorizo, or finely chopped sausage are also fantastic additions; lightly grill or fry the sausage/chorizo. As featured here, I love it with pimento-stuffed olives. I’ve used grated Parmesan cheese, but you can use any hard cheese, blue cheese or feta. Add diced or grated. I haven’t tried it, but I imagine mozzarella (shredded) would work very well.
So have fun adding what’s to hand and what’s popular at home. The recipe provides quantities for the various ingredients—substitute with your preferred choices. Blanched vegetables must be thoroughly dried before adding to the mixture.
Savoury Polenta Cake
Ingredients
- 225 g medium grain polenta
- 125 g flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate soda
- 115 g grated cheese (parmesan)
- 100 g olives cut in half
- 100 g cherry tomatoes (halved)
- 1 medium courgette – grated and squeezed to remove excess liquid
- 2 large eggs
- 350 ml yoghurt (full fat Greek yoghurt is ideal)
- 120 ml olive oil
- 2 tbsp fresh herbs, finely chopped – I used basil and parsley. depending on the ingredidnets – pair with oregano, sage, rosemary or dill
- 1 tsp salt
- plenty of freshly ground black pepper and or pinch dried chilli flakes (or piment d'espelette)
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 °C
- Sieve the flour, salt, bicarbonate soda and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the polenta and cheese and mix well
- Toss the vegetables into the flour mixture and mix until they are evenly distributed.
- Whisk the eggs, yoghurt, herbs and olive oil and pour into the flour mixture – stir gently to fully incorporate.
- Pour into a greased or lined loaf tin and bake for 30 minutes. Cover with foil and bake for a further 10-14 minutes. The cake is ready when a knife comes out clean.
- Cool slightly before serving – delicious warm or cold. Especially good sliced and fried the following day.
Reader Interactions