Sidonie Maroon

Cheesy Chickpea Polenta Bake with Harvest Roasted Veggies 

Serves 4. Easy 

Ingredients 

Polenta 

1 cup freshly ground chickpea flour from 1 heaping cup raw chickpeas
   (or use 1 cup stone ground corn polenta)  

4 cups water 

½ teaspoon dried thyme 

1 teaspoon sea salt 

Roasted Veggies

1 large onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced 

1 lb summer squash, diced 

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil 

1 teaspoon sea salt 

2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, like rosemary, oregano and basil or 2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs

Sauce 

15-ounce can tomato sauce 

1 teaspoon anchovy fish sauce

1 teaspoon soy sauce or Bragg’s aminos 

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 

Combined Cheeses

2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated 

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated 

Directions 

Rice Cooker Polenta 

Using a rice cooker, add polenta, salt, thyme, and water to the cooker and stir. Set to the porridge cycle. Every 15 minutes during the cycle, open the lid and briskly stir until smooth for 15 seconds. When finished, pour onto a parchment paper lined, olive oiled, rimmed sheet pan and allow to cool. Cut into squares. 

Roasted Veggies

Prep the veggies onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Massage with olive oil, salt and herbs. Roast at 450 F for 45 minutes. Stir after 30 minutes. 

Sauce 

In a small mixing bowl, stir the sauce ingredients together. 

In a parchment-lined, medium casserole: add a thin layer of sauce, then polenta squares, then veggies, then mixed cheeses. Repeat ending with cheese on the top. I made mine with two layers. Be sure and leave plenty of cheese for the top. Cover with foil or a lid and bake at 400 F for 25 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Take the lid or foil off for the last 8 minutes. 

Note: You can make the parts ahead and put it together before baking.  

Chickpea Polenta Trials 

To make the flour, I ground a heaping cup of raw chickpeas, on high speed, in my Vitamix and sifted. You could also use garbanzo flour. I made two trial batches — one on the stove top using the traditional ratio of 4 to 1 water to flour, and the other in the rice cooker. 

Stove top: I brought four cups of water to the boil, added 1 teaspoon sea salt, dried thyme, and whisked in the flour. I took it off the heat and cooked it for three minutes. It was lumpy and slightly raw, so I smoothed it out in the blender and poured it on an oiled baking sheet, and let it cool. 

Chickpea polenta has a mild, delicate taste. It firmed up nicely. I cut into a pizza shaped round, topped it with freshly made pesto and mozzarella, and baked it in a hot oven for 10 minutes. 

I cooked the other batch in the rice cooker using exactly the same method as for corn polenta. I preferred this method. The polenta tasted fully cooked, plus took less mess and hands-on time. 

(Sidonie Maroon is the Food Co-op Culinary Educator; abluedotkitchen.com. Follow Sidonie on The Food Co-op’s Facebook group Cooking with the Co-op. Find more recipes at www.foodcoop.coop/blog/chickpea-polenta.)