Savoury and vegan polenta cake 

This is a recipe by one of my favourite Italian blogs: Artigiani del Sapore.

Artigiani is not only a blog, it is a philosophy around food with the objective of spreading and sharing the culture of eating healthy and tasty.

It is about great Italian recipes that are re-inveted by two talented sisters, Fabrizia and Gabriella, with a vegetarian, vegan, raw and gluten free twist.

Fabrizia and Gabriella are willing to show via their work that you might get rid of one ingredient sometimes but that leads you to discover the taste of new ones!

For Baci di Dama they share a savoury, vegan and gluten free polenta cake.

Instructions

STEP 1

Take a large pot, add the water and a pinch of salt. Put it over medium heat. Start adding the polenta little by little, gently and slowly. Keep stirring until the polenta changes its consistency and gets a little sticky. Turn the heat off and let it cool down.

STEP 2

Clean the mushrooms and the zucchini. Cut them in thin slices. Take a large pan, add some extra virgin olive oil, the garlic, the chilly you like and put it over low heat. When the garlic turns golden brown add the mushrooms and the zucchini. Turn the heat on medium and cook them stirring from time to time. They will cook quite quickly. Once ready turn off the heat and put them aside.

STEP 3

Let’s prepare the béchamel now. Dilute the rice flour with the extra virgin olive oil in a pot and start adding the stock little by little. Add some nutmeg and salt if needed (you might have salted the stock earlier so maybe you don’t need more salt). Put the pot over low/medium heat and start stirring until you get the right creamy consistency for the béchamel.

You can also use some vegetable milk instead of the stock if you prefer, but personally we would suggest to avoid ready-to-use ingredients and try to make our own like the stock we prepared in advance for this recipe. You just need a few vegetables like carrots, celery, onions and potatoes to cook slowly in a pot.

STEP 4

Take a baking pan, pour some polenta and leave a couple of tablespoons aside. Get your hands wet, in this way it will be easier for you to spread the polenta on the baking pan.

STEP 5

Put the vegetables in the béchamel and mix them gently. Pour the mixture on the polenta. Crumble the polenta you saved with your fingers and use it to cover the vegetables and the béchamel.

STEP 6

Put the pan in the oven to 180° for 20 minutes.

Once ready, take it out and spread some seeds all over it.

Let it cool down before serving.

To discover who are Artigiani del Sapore, read it in my interview to Gabriella:

http://bacididamaglutenfree.com/en/portfolio/who-are-artigiani-del-sapore/