Polenta two ways: sweet and savory

Orange mint polenta olive oil cake + creamy polenta

Polenta cake + coconut tomato white beans with polenta

I’ve been obsessed with polenta for as long as I can remember, my mom used to buy the polenta logs from Trader Joes and cook them with butter and parmesan. I later discovered my love for creamy polenta with different seafoods; scallops, shrimp, squid, and octopus being my favorites. It was a bit of a play on shrimp and grits, but in my opinion a bit more elevated.

It was only recently that I began venturing into the world of polenta desserts. I had a slice of polenta cake at O Cafe in the East Village. It was late in the day so it was a bit dry but I really loved the flavors going on.

I knew that an olive oil cake would be phenomenal with polenta because they’re both a bit savory. Orange goes amazing with corn and the fruitiness of good olive oil, and mint wakes the whole thing up (plus I have so much mint in my fridge I need to use it all.)

Creamy polenta recipe:

Serves 2 people

I seemingly always have half a can of coconut milk I need to use so I always make this with coconut milk, but it is just as good with regular milk.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup polenta

• 2 cups water

• ¼ cup coconut milk

• 2 tbsp butter

• ½ tsp salt

• 1 clove garlic, smashed

• ¼ cup grated parmesan

Instructions:

1. Bring water, salt, and coconut milk to a simmer, then slowly add the polenta and garlic.

2. Whisk it together and cook for 15 minutes, stirring constantly.

3. If the polenta is too thick, whisk in a ¼ cup of water.

4. Turn off the heat, add in black pepper to taste and whisk in butter. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes.

5. Whisk in parmesan and season to taste if needed.

6. Remove the garlic clove

7. It’s done! Enjoy!

Serve with toppings of your choice; steak, shrimp, scallops, or beans are some of my go-tos.

A half a tin of canned calamari, parsley, and halved cherry tomatoes with lemon juice is heavenly and cheap.

Some of the ways I've served this polenta.

Now, time for a corny treat to wash that down. This is more of a snacking cake, which I love because I can have it with my coffee in the morning or with ice cream for dessert.

Polenta orange upside-down cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 165g polenta (1 cup)

• 155g almond flour (1 ½ cups)

• 1 ½ tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp salt

• 175g white sugar (¾ cup)

• 2 eggs

• 2 egg whites, or a ¼ cup aquafaba (see notes)*

• ⅓ cup olive oil

• Zest of 3 oranges

• ¼ cup orange juice

• ½ cup plain yogurt or sour cream

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 2-3 oranges, peeled

For the soak:

• Juice of one orange

• ¼ cup sugar

• 2 stems of fresh mint

• ¼ tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.

2. Line an 8-inch round pan with parchment paper and lightly grease.

3. Combine almond flour, polenta, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

4. Whip the egg whites (or aquafaba)* together until stiff peaks are formed, transfer to a smaller bowl and set aside.

5. Crack the two eggs into the mixer bowl and add the sugar. Whip for 5 minutes or until they are frothy and pale in color.

6. Mix in the vanilla and zest.

7. Slowly add in olive oil, followed by the yogurt and orange juice.

8. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and fold until completely combined.

9. Gently fold in the whipped egg whites (or aquafaba) until fully combined.

10. Peel 2-3 of the oranges (depending on the size) and thinly slice. Arrange the oranges on the bottom of the pan, starting in the center and working around to the edges of the pan.

You can keep the peel on the oranges if you like, especially if using temple oranges, but you must slice very thinly.

11. Pour the cake batter over the oranges, and place the pan on a sheet tray, in case it drips over the sides.

12. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Instructions for the soak:

1. Add the orange juice and sugar to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer until the sugar has just dissolved.

2. Slap the mint between your hands to bring out the oils, add the mint and stir.

3. Turn off the heat and add in the vanilla. Let it sit for 10 minutes before removing the mint.

Assembly:

1. Once the cake is done baking, let cool for 10 minutes, then trim off any overflow from the sides. Run a knife around the edges to loosen up the cake. Place a plate of the same size or larger on top of the cake and flip the pan over to remove the cake. Peel the parchment off.

2. Drizzle the soak over the whole cake evenly. Let cool for 20 more minutes.

I garnished mine with fresh mint leaves and a light dusting of cocoa powder because I was out of confectioners’ sugar (but the bitterness from the cocoa ended up being very nice).

I experimented and kept the peel on some of the orange slices and found it was nice both ways

Slice and enjoy!

Notes:

I used a ¼ cup of aquafaba (the liquid from canned chickpeas) for this cake because it is a wonderful egg white substitute, and honestly, because eggs are so expensive right now, I couldn’t justify using 4 eggs in one cake. Either works fine. If you do use aquafaba, you may need to add more than ¼ cup to the mixer so that the whisk can actually whip it, and then just measure around ½ cup of the whipped aquafaba to use for the cake. The reason you use ½ cup once whipped rather than ¼ cup is to account for the air added. You can’t taste the chickpea at all.