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Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Polenta Lasagna with Portabellas and Kale

Polenta Lasagna with Portabellas and Kale

You know I really like a recipe when I make it two days in a row. I first made this dish for dinner last night, and though I liked it and my husband thought it was "outstanding," I still wanted to tinker with the recipe. It was good, but I thought it could be incredible. So this morning I got to work, making a couple of small changes, and boy am I glad I did. A good recipe got even better—and I got an amazing lunch!

Like Rustic Red Kale and White Bean Soup, this recipe is a devious attempt to get you to eat your leafy greens. Kale and portabella mushrooms are sautéed with garlic and then mixed with a creamy "cheese" sauce before being baked between two layers of polenta. (Fans of my Eggplant Parmesan will recognize the sauce from that recipe.) Despite the long list of ingredients, this dish is pretty easy to put together, especially if you use packaged polenta and jarred marinara sauce. You'll probably spend the most time preparing the kale, but you can even cut out that task if you substitute bagged spinach instead.

Polenta Lasagna with Portabellas and Kale

Polenta Lasagna with Portabellas and Kale
(click for printer-friendly version)

If you use packaged polenta, slice it into 18 thin slices. If you make your own polenta, spread the cooked polenta out on a baking sheet and use a spoon or your moistened hands to spread it no thicker than 1/4 inch. When it has solidified, either cut it in half and use each half as one layer or cut it into an even number of pieces that you can fit together to fit your baking dish.

1 18-ounce package prepared polenta or 1 recipe of Quick Microwave Polenta
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 large portabella mushroom, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (about 2 cups, chopped)
4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 bunch kale (about 8 ounces after trimming), center rib removed and chopped into bite-sized pieces (may substitute spinach or other greens)
1 teaspoon dried basil
salt and pepper to taste
Cheese sauce (below)
1 1/4 cups marinara sauce (homemade or in a jar)
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
vegan soy parmesan

"Cheese" sauce:
1/2 cup extra-firm silken tofu
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tbsp. cashew butter or tahini
1 tsp. onion powder
1 1/2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)
1/8 tsp. white pepper
2 tsp. corn starch

Preheat oven to 375° F. Spray the bottom and sides of a 8x8-inch baking dish with non-stick spray and set aside.

Place the cheese sauce ingredients into a blender or food processor and puree until completely smooth. Set aside.

Sauté the onions and portabellas in a non-stick skillet until the mushrooms begin to exude their juices. Add the garlic and sauté for one more minute.

Add the kale, basil, and 1/4 cup water. Sauté until the kale is wilted and tender and the water has evaporated. Add the cheese sauce and cook, stirring, until thickened. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed. Remove from the heat.

Cut the polenta into 1/4-inch thick slices. Line the bottom of the baking dish with half of the slices, overlapping slightly if possible. Spread 1/2 cup of the marinara sauce over the polenta, and then spread the kale mixture over the sauce. Sprinkle the chopped olives over the kale and top with the remaining polenta. Spread the remaining marinara sauce over the top and sprinkle with soy parmesan.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 or 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings—if you can resist eating the whole pan yourself!

Polenta Lasagna with Portabellas and Kale

Each serving (excluding optional ingredients) provides: 182 Calories (kcal); 6 g Total Fat; (30% calories from fat); 7 g Protein; 26 g Carbohydrate; 0 mg Cholesterol; 691 mg Sodium; 4 g Fiber. You can lighten this up a little by using low-fat silken tofu and fat-free soymilk.

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47 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Susan, did you read my mind? Lately I've been on a polenta and kale kick, but wanted to cook polenta with a creamy sauce. I looked at your eggplant parm recipe the other day, and thought the cheese sauce would go really well with polenta. So, you pretty much made my dream dish! Sounds and looks amazing! Thanks!

-Evan

8:25 PM, February 06, 2007  
Blogger Melissa West said...

Wow! What a creative combination! Love the leafy greens.

8:40 PM, February 06, 2007  
Blogger Linda said...

ive never had polenta. this looks so delicious. i can't wait to get going with it! i wish i had more energy tonight, i'd start now!

8:41 PM, February 06, 2007  
Anonymous jenna said...

Hmm. I don't think I've ever eaten polenta. It looks perdy good, I'm so keen to try it. Polenta. It sounds delicious.
-Jenna

12:01 AM, February 07, 2007  
Blogger Frances said...

Tried this tonight but we had to use spinach instead. We don't get any soy cheeses here in NZ but it still tasted really good. We didn't even cave in to the temptation of using our organic cheddar. I'm not a very good chef and my vegan meals can taste a little....well how do I put this delicately...like the bottom of a mulch bin but your blog is helping me be a bit more confident with my cooking.

3:45 AM, February 07, 2007  
Blogger Tracy said...

Mmmm - that looks delicious!

7:09 AM, February 07, 2007  
Anonymous Gluten FreeVegan said...

yummm...know what to do with the extra Kale I have now! Thanks!

9:04 AM, February 07, 2007  
Blogger UP Nurse said...

I love kale...love polenta, but just can not "do" mushrooms (it is a texture thing). Work without the mushrooms?

BJ

11:07 AM, February 07, 2007  
Anonymous jai-bee said...

that looks outrageously good.

12:11 PM, February 07, 2007  
Anonymous Kim said...

This recipe looks amazing! I have Quick polenta "firming" up in the fridge right now. Will be making this tonight with kale and baby portabellas. Hope it turns out well! Will post again with the results...

1:09 PM, February 07, 2007  
Blogger SusanV said...

BJ, feel free to leave out the mushrooms altogther, or substitute a vegetable you do like, perhaps chopped carrots.

4:31 PM, February 07, 2007  
Blogger helios said...

Oh my goodness that looks good.
Hmm.... may have to add it to next week's menu. Keep the amazing recipes coming! One of your recent soup postings also looks amazing.

6:03 PM, February 07, 2007  
Blogger Noel & Celeste said...

This is in my oven right now!
It smells delicious; and it was truly easy!

Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!

Celeste

6:05 PM, February 07, 2007  
Anonymous Kim said...

...Had this for dinner tonight and it was very tasty! It should make great leftovers tomorrow. Thanks for sharing.

6:45 PM, February 07, 2007  
Anonymous Mark said...

Certainly a delicious and utterly creative recipe, but....

...hardly fat free. Let's see:

1) olive fat
2) silken tofu fat
3) soy milk fat
4) cashew/tahini butter fat

With all due respect to your great work in general, can you really call this recipe fatfree vegan?

Best (still), Mark

10:48 PM, February 07, 2007  
Blogger SusanV said...

Mark, while not all of the recipes on this blog are technically fat-free, I should have noted that this one is one of the higher-fat recipes. Though the soymilk and tofu (both of which are available in low-fat versions) provide an insignificant amount of fat, the nut butter and olives do raise the percentage of fat calories to about 30%. I've added the nutritional breakdown so that people will be clear on how much fat is in the recipe, and I've added a "higher-fat" tag. Thanks for pointing this out.

8:21 AM, February 08, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Susan, another great idea - any thoughts on vegan replacements for the yeast ? I don't want to use soy cheese because of the sodium. Thanks -

3:17 PM, February 08, 2007  
Blogger ByTheBay said...

Hey, it's a vegan version of my Polenta Lasagna with Kale and Feta! Rock on!

3:58 PM, February 08, 2007  
Blogger SusanV said...

Evan, isn't that funny? I've been craving polenta lately--glad to hear I'm not the only one.

Frances, I'm impressed that you've already had time to try it. I'm sure your vegan cooking is getting better all the time!

Kim, thanks for the feedback. Yes, I've found that the leftovers make a very good lunch.

Anonymous--I'm not sure what to use instead of the yeast. It gives it a sort of cheesy flavor. You might try a teaspoon of lemon juice instead for a little bite. And instead of parmesan, you could try ground up almonds. Good luck!

4:52 PM, February 08, 2007  
Anonymous Melissa said...

I'm drooling! Thanks for posting this!

12:56 AM, February 09, 2007  
Blogger Harmonia said...

I sooooo have to try this! YUMMERS~!

Hope to see you in Veggin Out when you have a chance!

Happy Weekend!

8:04 AM, February 09, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Tried this tonight with spinach I'd cooked and packed from earlier this summer, added a large shredded carrot and some chopped celery. Yuuum! I didn't tell my family that it was vegan till after they'd eaten it (oops:)) but I really really dig the cheese sauce. I'll be using that for sure in my apartment at school this week. Ooh the possibilities!

7:35 PM, February 09, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I used frozen spinach that I'd had from our garden this summer, and added a big grated carrot and some celery. YUM! I loved this cheese sauce. I just recently tried playing around with nutritional yeast and trying to find a good cheese sauce that I can make in my apartment at school, and this is by far the best I've made. Thanks!

7:37 PM, February 09, 2007  
Blogger Catherine said...

Hi Susan,

I like the polenta idea for lasagna. Do you prefer it to noodles

8:33 PM, February 09, 2007  
Anonymous KathyF said...

This looks superb!

Incidentally, do you know the only way I can find kale here is already chopped and bagged? It's annoying, but many produce items are presented already prepared like this. I think supermarkets here assume the British people are incapable of wielding a knife!

1:27 AM, February 10, 2007  
Blogger Urban Vegan said...

What a great idea...it combines everything tht I love.

11:54 AM, February 10, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

To Susan:
I am SO impressed with your recipes! I'm getting my degree in nutrition with an art minor and I absolutely love hearing about the healthy recipes you're modifying AND viewing the stunning pictures you take too! I'm going to try this polenta lasagna tonight. I can't wait! I'm not even a vegan but I think it's so important to mix a variety of healthy foods in your diet. Your beet choco. cake looks delicious too! What's your favorite recipe? Thank you for creating such a great site!!
-E.O.

1:17 PM, February 10, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This dish was just fantastic! We made it a few days ago and are still enjoying the tasty leftovers.

4:19 PM, February 10, 2007  
Blogger SusanV said...

Hi EO--If you haven't noticed yet, I just posted a list of favorite recipes for the first half of last year. I don't know what my one favorite recipe is, but this polenta lasagna would have to be in the running!

7:35 AM, February 11, 2007  
Blogger Andria said...

Hi Susan-

This recipe looks phenomenal! But since I'm cooking only for myself, what size baking dish did you use?

7:13 PM, February 11, 2007  
Blogger SusanV said...

Andria, I used an 8x8-inch square pan, but you can also cut the recipe in half and use a smaller pan. That's what I did for the second batch I made.

7:31 PM, February 11, 2007  
Blogger Elizabeth said...

This is a fabulous recipe. I saw the eggplant parmasen recipe last week and planned to make that, but then I saw this recipe, and it looked awesome too. So...I made my own creation - polenta lasagna parmesan with portabellas, zucchini, kale and eggplant! I followed everything in this recipe, but cut the polenta in half and only used that on the bottom of the dish. I added zucchini to the sauteed veggies and topped the whole thing with broiled eggplant and breadcrumbs from one piece of whole spelt bread. Thank you for this great recipe!

1:16 PM, February 12, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Made this tonight for dinner and DH loved it! I made it with spinach instead of Kale and reduced the Cashew butter by half to lower the fat content some. Also left out the olives for the same reason and we still thought it was absolutely delicious!

Thank you for the recipe, it is definitely a keeper!

Cindy

11:35 PM, February 14, 2007  
Blogger Lady Librarian said...

I've lurked here for months, but the coincidence of finding this recipe and getting kale and portobello mushrooms in my veg box this week was too much. It was delicious, thank you so much (although I did cheat and use powdered vegan cheese to make the sauce, sssh!). It nearly wasn't vegan, my husband spotted a caterpillar amongst the kale just in time!

11:45 AM, February 15, 2007  
Blogger Melanie said...

Hey Susan,
I was planning to make this for dinner and bake it later, but it smelled so good I had to eat it for lunch! I added about 3/4 c. of frozen pumpkin that had been lurking in the bottom of my freezer, it added a nice orangey color without any pumpkin flavor- I love sneaking in veggies like that! Thanks for the great recipe!

12:24 PM, February 15, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This recipe was truly amazing. Not sure if someone suggested this yet, but when I made the polenta, I put half of it into the pan that I cooked the lasagna in so it worked out really well. Thanks so much for this! :)

6:10 PM, February 26, 2007  
Anonymous Lindsey said...

Suzan, I just want to tell you that I think you are just amazing. This is such a superior vegan website. (I've been to all of 'em). Your passion and hard work really shows. I am in awe of how it is possible that you are a wife, mother, an incredible cook, and yet still have time to keep up such an incredible site. I went out to purchase the ingredients for the crustless quiches and the poletna lasagna. Your site has been inspiring me for some time now, and I just wanted to tell you a big THANKS! YOu Rock!

2:14 PM, July 17, 2007  
Anonymous elphaba said...

Thanks for a very tasty recipe. I made it but I made some changes since I gave myself the requirement to use what I had in the pantry now.

--I used 8 oz of sliced crimini mushrooms (the little white button mushrooms) and I don't think it detracted much but I'm sure it would have been better to use portabella
--I used a 10 oz pkg of frozen chopped spinach instead of the kale. I defrosted spinach in the microwave and pressed water out of it but since I know it still had more water than fresh Kale would have, I didn't add the extra 1/4 cup of water when I added the kale to the onion/mushroom mixture.
--I used a large bunch of basil (about 1 cup chopped) instead of the dried basil. I was glad I had it in the fridge since I didn't have Marinara sauce but made my own using a can of tomato sauce plus dry sherry, some of the basil, some fresh thyme I also had and some extra water to make 1 and 1/2 cups. I added the rest of the basil when I added the garlic to the kale/onion/mushroom mixtore. I also added one fresh jalapeno, seeds and core removed, chopped along with the basil to this mixture. (can't live without my jalapenos, YUM)
-Cheese sauce turned out well to my surprise. I used soft silken tofu (all I had) instead of extra-firm.
- I used water instead of vegetable broth in the cheese sauce. Note to myself: it probably would have "set up" better if I hadn't used the water since I was using soft tofu.
- I used 2 tbsp of peanut butter instead of cashew butter and I didn't even sense a peanut taste in the final results. I had heard of using peanut butter instead of tahini in hummus but now I know it works well as a substitute in other recipes as well, at least this one.
- 3 tsp of dried minced onion (some of this was to enhance my homemade marianara sauce) since I didn't have onion powder
- I used an 18 oz cylinder of pre-prepared polenta cut into little slices. I don't think the 1/4 inch spec in the recipe is quite right for this if you really want to cover the bottom. I think the directions should say to slice as thin as is feasable.
- I used parchment paper instead of spraying with oil to keep from sticking and was glad I did since the polenta didn't quite cover every spot.
- I used a toaster oven instead of a regular oven. This may have been the reason that I think the 25 minutes oven time at 375 didn't seem quite enough. I think next time I will make that 35 minutes. The polenta was very warm but I would have liked it to be hotter.
- my version was a tad runny, probably because of the soft tofu in the cheese sauce but definitely a keeper. I'm going to buy some extra firm tofu and use next time.

Overall comments: I definitely plan to make again. I love recipes like this that are very forgiving and allow you to make modifications. I think I will make a kale and sweet potato version or something like that. Thanks very much!

6:56 PM, July 21, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

que rica comida, esto si que es alta cocina¡felicidades! me das más animo para seguir siendo vegana!

12:48 PM, July 25, 2007  
Anonymous sophia said...

wow, this is fantastic. very fancy taste and presentation without too much effort. i had no nutritional yeast so i added an extra tablespoon of tahini, and i also used firm tofu because that's all i had, and the sauce was creamy, cheesy and delicious. substituting shredded carrots for the mushrooms turned out perfectly. thanks so much.

9:59 PM, August 19, 2007  
Blogger Eh... Not so much said...

Ooooh, this sounds great! Can't wait to try it! And a bonus microwave polenta recipe too. HUZZAH!

12:36 PM, August 24, 2007  
Blogger ~M said...

Hi Susan,
This was SO good. I used de la Estancia Argentine (gf) polenta, which has a higher protein count and less starch than normal polenta. It also cooks in just 1 minute, but is not instant. Definitely check it out. Although my fiance is not a mushroom fan, my dicing (as opposed to chopping) coupled with your cheese sauce made this dish a success for him. He even said that your vegan cheese is easier to clean off the pots and pans than normal cheese. Next time I will add additional vegetables to stretch the dish and make me feel less bad about eating so much of it - perhaps a layer of roasted vegetables. I plan to use up the rest of the silken tofu in one of your mousse recipes, maybe putting in a bit of peppermint extract. Take care and thanks so much for the polenta-kale-portabella goodness!

8:15 PM, October 07, 2007  
Blogger Jennifer said...

This recipe is fantastic! Thanks for sharing it. I will definitely be making it again (hopefully with kale next time, I took the easy way out and used bagged spinach).

10:11 PM, October 20, 2007  
Anonymous Keight said...

This was amazing. My husband (who hated the last vegan "cheese" sauce I made - fondue) asked for another piece the second he finished his first one! yay!

I'm new to vegan cooking. ;oD

Because the flavors go well with corn, I'm thinking of trying it with a chili layer (tomato sauce with chili powder and spices, and some beans) and modifying the cheese sauce using another recipe I have for a more "nacho"-y cheese. Spicy chili lasagne! I'll let you know how it turns out.

9:50 PM, January 16, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Man-oh-man was that ever delicious! This made for a great Valentine's Dish for my partner and me tonight (and for leftovers). I modified it some - most notably by doubling the recipe and using eggplant slices as the bottom layer in lieu of polenta (and using the full 18 oz. on the top)... I also added hot pepper to the cheeze mix and sub'd dried shitakes for the portabella as that's what I had on hand. I used the rehydrating water as my veggie broth in the cheeze mix. Absolutely DE-LISH! The partner was super-happy with it, too! Thank you so much for yet another divine food inspiration! - Katie

7:38 PM, February 14, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So wonderfully rich taste. Perfect. It made my day.

10:37 PM, March 30, 2008  
Anonymous Lena said...

I just made this and not only does it smell yummy, it TASTES yummy.

For some reason, it didn't firm up. I DID double the recipe and sometimes, recipes don't like that.

Any suggestions?

6:21 PM, May 11, 2008  

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