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Egg and Polenta Cheesy Breakfast Casserole

Layer your polenta with anything you desire, whether salami or ham — or keep it vegetable-centric with spinach or oven-roasted tomatoes. Make nests between your toppings and the polenta where the eggs will cook slowly, giving you a soft-cooked finish that’s loaded with flavor.

Course: Breakfast, Casserole

Keyword: cheese, eggs, polenta

Servings:

Author: New York Times

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter plus more for greasing the pan
1 cup quick-cooking polenta
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup/2 ounces fontina or mozzarella or a blend, shredded
5 ounces thinly sliced cured meat such as hot or sweet Italian sausage, salami or ham (optional)
1 packed cup spinach kale or other leafy green, torn or chopped (optional)
8 large eggs
1/2 cup/2 ounces grated Parmesan
Ground black pepper
1/4 cup packed basil leaves larger ones roughly torn (optional)

Instructions

Heat oven to 400 degrees with the rack in the center. Generously butter a 9-by-13-inch pan and set aside.
Bring 4 cups water to a boil. Gradually whisk in the polenta and salt, and cook, stirring constantly until the polenta bubbles and pulls away from the pan, about 3 minutes. Vigorously stir in the milk, butter and cheese until smooth and creamy. (It will seem loose.)
Spread the polenta onto the bottom of the prepared pan. Layer with meat, greens or anything else you desire. Use the back of a large spoon to create 8 small wells in the polenta. Crack the eggs inside, sprinkle with Parmesan, and bake 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how set you like your eggs.
Let stand for 5 minutes; sprinkle with black pepper and basil and serve warm.

Notes

Reviewer used baby spinach (uncooked), sauteed mushrooms, chopped green onions, parsley, and leftover pieces of Smithfield ham (so was sparing with salt). It took at least five - seven more minutes at 400 degrees to turn the eggs from see-through to white. Next time will cook it at 425 degrees. VERY tasty, and the polenta made a good base. And a little hot sauce was a good touch.

Egg and Polenta Cheesy Breakfast Casserole