Cheesy Ham, Spinach And Polenta Torte

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
• 5 cups water
• 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1/4 lb smoked ham (i use leftovers or just go to your deli and get a couple of slices)
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese
• 1 medium onion (fine chopped)
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Recipe

• 1 filling -- in a large sauce pan on medium high heat, add the olive oil, onion, garlic and saute a couple of minutes until tender. add in the spinach, ham, pepper, salt (but go easy, ham is salty) and cook about 3-4 minutes until everything is well combined.
• 2 polenta -- in a large pot, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. add the remaining cup to the corn meal and mix well. then slowly add the corn meal mix into the boiling water and simmer over medium heat for 8-10 minutes stiring all the time until thick and creamy. remove from the heat.
• 3 casserole -- heat your oven to 400 and make sure you butter, not oil your casserole dish well. now if you are using a spring form pan, line with aluminum foil and then butter the foil.
• 4 spread 1/3 of the polenta in the dish or pan and then cover with 1/2 of the spinach mixture. top that with 1/2 of the parmesan and 1/3 of the mozzarella. next layer -- 1/3 more polenta, then the remaining spinach, then the remaining parmesan and 1/3 more of the mozzarella. finish off with the last 1/3 of the polenta and the rest of the mozzarella.
• 5 bake -- 400 degrees for 30 minutes. make sure you let it rest for 10 minutes.
• 6 if using a spring form, just remove the sides, but a casserole dish works just as well. this can be a side dish or easily a main dish.