Gluten Free Polenta Cake

Anyone can make gluten free foods from such simple ingredients like cornmeal, a fine, corn-based, storecupboard grain that can be served creamy, set into pieces and fried, or baked as a cake.
Polenta, is a traditional meal here in Romania because of its versatility, not to mention how easy it is to make. In this recipe I wanted to show you a face of polenta that you haven’t imagined before. You will see a polenta cake, with curd and cheese filling.

For the first step you’ll only need four ingredients: 1 cup of coarsely ground cornmeal (polenta), 3 cups of water, a tablespoon of oil, I used a teaspoon of salt, but you can vary this as you wish.

Boil the water in a saucepan with the oil and the salt. Continuously stirring, pour the polenta slowly into the boiling water. Reduce the heat, and whisk it often until the polenta starts to thicken. After circa 40 minutes, when the dollop can be separated from the saucepan, the polenta is ready for the second step.

Put the polenta in a baking sheet and roll the dough to make a 1,5-2 cm thick layer than put it in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes. Meanwhile you can make the filling.

For the filling, you will need: 5 dkg of cheese, 15 dkg of cottage cheese, 10 dkg of curdy cheese and two tablespoons of butter. I used salt, pepper, paprika and basil as seasoning. You can vary the portions of different cheeses it depends on how creamy the final stuffing you’d like to be. Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.

From the cold polenta cut out 5 circles or disks, then cut out of the three of them 3 smaller circle as you see on the images attached.Put one of the polenta circles as a base, then put the other three on top of it and fill it with the cheese mix.

Grill in 180 degrees for circa 7-10 minutes, then put the fifth disk on the top and cover it with sour cream. Put back in the oven for another 7-10 minutes until the top’s golden brown.

The leftover can be used later for one of my favourite breakfasts, polenta with cold milk. I cut out little hearts to make it even more eye catching. I hope you’ll enjoy this delicious polenta cake.