Get ready for fall with Chef John's Baked Pumpkin Polenta! The cozy and creamy dish in this video combines smooth pumpkin puree with rich, cheesy polenta for the perfect autumn comfort food. Easy to make and full of seasonal flavor, this baked polenta is ideal as a side dish for holiday meals or a warm, comforting dinner on its own.
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00:00Hello this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with baked pumpkin polenta. That's right we're
00:09giving a savory pumpkin twist to what I think is probably the best way to enjoy polenta. And that
00:15would mean it's much more interesting, more visually appealing baked form. And you'll see
00:20why shortly. But this is just as much a magic trick as it is a recipe. And to get started we
00:26will toss some butter into some olive oil that we've drizzled into a saucepan set over medium
00:30high heat. And of course whenever the butter lands like that we have to wait for it to fall over
00:35before we move to the next shot. There we go. And what we'll do as soon as the butter melts is toss
00:42in some sage leaves. And we will briefly fry those in this hot oil and butter for just a few seconds
00:48until they turn crisp. And just as soon as they're dark green and they've stopped bubbling they're
00:53done. Which happens so fast I couldn't even show you the exact moment. But as soon as it does we'll
00:59pull those out and we'll turn off our heat. And we'll reserve those on a paper towel lined plate.
01:04Since besides flavoring our fat we can also use those as a garnish. And by the way those little
01:10brown specks you see in the pan are not from the sage. Those are actually caramelized milk solids
01:15from the butter. Which are not only not a problem they're actually a very good thing. Since that's
01:20gonna add a little bit of toasty nuttiness. And then once our sage is out we can transfer our
01:25pumpkin in. Which is gonna be one can of pure pumpkin puree. And not, I repeat not pumpkin pie
01:32filling. Oh yeah you only make that mistake once. And then to our pure pumpkin we will add some nice
01:38cold fresh water. And we can also raise our heat up to high since we want this to come up to a boil.
01:44And while we're waiting for that to happen we'll go ahead and season this up with some kosher salt
01:49as well as some freshly ground black pepper. And then we can take a whisk and give everything a mix.
01:55And like I said we'll wait for this to come to a boil. And once it does we will grab our whisk.
02:00And we will slowly whisk in our fine cornmeal. Which by the way I'm not very good at. I always
02:07add things too fast and too quickly. Especially now that I'm getting older. But unless you really
02:13dump it in super fast you're probably not gonna have any problems with lumps. And if you do see
02:18a couple don't worry just keep whisking. Since this will thicken up quickly and those will
02:23disappear as you whisk. And you'll notice as soon as you add that in it will thicken up almost
02:28instantly. So at this stage we want to keep whisking pretty much continually. And also we'll
02:34reduce our heat to medium-low since we have to cook this for about 20 to 25 minutes. And if our
02:39heat's too high the bottom is gonna want to stick and it could scorch. So we will lower our heat and
02:45keep whisking. But good news we do not have to whisk the entire 20 to 25 minutes. As some overly
02:53cautious chefs will tell you. Okay after the initial couple minutes of whisking we can simply
02:58let this cook on medium-low. And we only have to whisk it every like three or four minutes maybe.
03:03Since the only reason we're whisking it is so that it doesn't start to stick to the bottom.
03:07And if it's not doing that you're doing good. And yes you heard me correctly earlier. We're using
03:13fine cornmeal for this and not polenta. Which is generally ground coarser. And I do like to use
03:19actual polenta when I'm doing the soft version that you spoon in the bowl. But it's a proven
03:23scientific fact that the fine cornmeal works better for the baked version. But anyway like
03:29I said we'll cook that for about 25 minutes. At which point it's going to have thickened up a
03:34little bit. But it's not really going to look that much different. And the way to tell if you're
03:38really done is to take a little bit on a spoon and give it a taste. And if it's ready it should
03:43be nice and creamy and soft. But if it still feels kind of gritty it's not done. And we'll need to
03:48let it simmer a little more until it isn't gritty. And once we determine it's cooked long enough we
03:54will turn off the heat. And we will add our last few ingredients. Including a couple shakes of cayenne.
04:00As well as a little splash of milk. Plus a whole bunch of freshly grated parmesan cheese.
04:06And of course we're going to use the real stuff. Parmigiano-Reggiano. And yes you have to grate it
04:11yourself. Which even if you're really slow is going to take you about 30 seconds. And then what
04:16we'll do is take our whisk and give this a thorough mixing until everything is beautifully and evenly
04:21combined. And then once that's been accomplished we will transfer that into a very generously
04:26olive oiled cake pan. And if you're keeping score at home this is 9 by 9 inches. Oh and when I
04:32mentioned the magic trick part earlier what I'm referring to is that this stuff is so soft and
04:38loose when it's hot. But somehow some way using this technique we're going to be able to bake
04:43squares of this that hold their shape. I know it does seem impossible but it is very very possible.
04:51And for that to happen the first thing we have to do is let this cool down to room temp on the
04:55counter. At which point we'll cover this in plastic and pop it in the fridge for a minimum of three
05:00hours. Although I almost always do this in the evening and let it sit overnight. But anyway three
05:06hours is the minimum. And once thoroughly chilled we'll pull it out and if everything goes according
05:12to plan if we turn that over and maybe give it the old shake-a-shake-a it should come right out
05:17nice and clean. And yes as you can see because of the pan I used this one is ribbed for your visual
05:24pleasure. But whether yours has a cool line pattern or not what we'll do is take a knife and cut this
05:29into equal rectangles. Or at least that's what I'm doing. I guess you could cut this into as many
05:35pieces as you want. And if you don't have a square cake pan and only a round one you can just cut
05:40wedges and it will work the same. And then once we have that cut up we will transfer our now beautifully
05:46firm polenta onto a sheet pan that we've lined with a silpat or some parchment paper. And then
05:52we can if we want just bake it at this point. But I do like to add a little bit of cheese on top.
05:57Or maybe a little bit of mozzarella or provolone or fontina. Or in my case a Monterey Jack.
06:04And besides a little more interesting appearance and a little extra flavor
06:08I'm also doing some cheese because I'm going to top this with some fried sage.
06:12And I think that's going to make for a beautiful color contrast when we place that on top.
06:17And that's it. Once those tops have been cheesed I'm going to add a little sprinkle of cayenne
06:22just for a little extra touch of heat. But also to sort of warm up the color of the top.
06:27And if you don't want the extra heat you can do the same thing with some paprika.
06:31And that's it. These are now ready to transfer into the center of a 425 degree oven for about
06:3730 minutes or until they're fully heated through. And they look like this. Oh yeah those are pretty.
06:44But you know what I think we can make them a little bit prettier if we top them with some
06:48fried sage leaves which could be the ones we use to flavor our oil and butter. But since I was
06:53baking mine the next day I did fry up a fresh batch so they look extra nice. But anyway that'll
06:59be up to you and you can just serve these plain. I mean you are after all the lord of how to garnish
07:05your baked cornmeal with gourd. And that's it. Once I had those garnished I went ahead and served
07:10one up so I can grab a fork and go in for the official taste and show you what's going on.
07:16And you'll see as I try to cut this with the edge of the fork how the inside's very soft and creamy
07:21and fluffy. But that's all surrounded by sort of a crusty skin which is basically somehow holding
07:26everything together. Which as I touched on earlier really is the magic to bake polenta.
07:32That somehow we got something so soft and creamy and runny to stay in this beautifully neat
07:37geometric package. I mean that loose corn mush we spooned into a bowl is fine but texturally speaking
07:44I prefer this version much more. Oh and if you've never had fried sage before it's actually crispy
07:50which is why you should crumble it up and mix it into the other goodness. And as far as the
07:55taste goes if you blindfolded a friend with their consent of course and you fed them some of this
08:02I doubt they'd be able to tell you there was pumpkin in it since it's completely savory in
08:06this application and we did not defile it with pumpkin spice. So if you were worried about that
08:12don't. What we're getting here is a very subtly sweet earthiness and since it is so similar to
08:18classic polenta we're not only able to enjoy this as a holiday side dish next to a turkey or a ham
08:24but also in any of those classic italian ways we'd enjoy regular polenta. Like for example serve with
08:29a beautiful beef ragu. And if there's a better combination of saucy meat and starchy comforting
08:35side dish I do not know what it is because that my friends was perfect. But whether you serve this
08:42with a weeknight ragu or a special occasion holiday dinner this baked polenta is very easy
08:48very beautiful and extremely delicious. Which is why I really do hope you give this a try
08:53soon. So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts
08:58a printable written recipe and much more info as usual. And as always, enjoy!
09:18you