Recipe

Pumpkin Balls And Polenta Recipe

Add Step-by-Step Photos	Deliathecrone / All my dishes 1 year, 8 months ago Here's a gorgeous concoction - warm, soft polenta hiding scoops of creamy cheese, melting them with its heat. Toasted, cheesy pumpkin balls top the polenta “cupcakes”, and your favorite Marinara sauce sits ready to complement the dish. Prep:30m Cook:170m Servings:8	Deliathecro
	rich filling different complex fromscratch

Does this look good? Yeah! / Nope

Fans

tuilelaith

Ingredients

Pumpkin Balls:

A 3-pound fresh pumpkin

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 egg

3/4 cup finely-grated Romano Cheese

Polenta:

4 ½ cups water, more if needed

Salt

1-1/3 cups coarse or medium cornmeal

5 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan

1/2 cup whole-milk Ricotta

1/2 cup Mascarpone cheese (or, cream cheese)

Directions

Pumpkin Balls:

Cut the pumpkin into small pieces and remove the seeds. Save the seeds to make a nourishing snack.

Leave the peel on the pumpkin pieces (you will remove it once the pumpkin is cooked, in order to draw more pumpkin flavor) and lay them FACE-DOWN.

Pour a half cup of water to the pan with the pumpkin pieces.

Roast the pumpkin in a 350-degree oven for about two hours. You should be able to pierce the skin with a fork when the vegetable is cooked.

Remove the skin and toss it in your compost pile. The pumpkin stays good, in the fridge, for about 5 days, in case you want to do this step ahead of time.

Mash the pumpkin while it’s still warm, add butter salt and pumpkin pie spice. Add egg until combined. Chill until firm; roll it into balls (about a half inch in diameter, no larger than that). You might want to enlist help from more hands to form the balls.

Then roll them in the cheese.

Bake in a 400-degree oven on a lightly greased cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Keep your eye on them in case the cheese burns.

Polenta:

In a medium saucepan, bring the water and 1 teaspoon salt to a boil. Add the cornmeal in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of the oil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the polenta is thick, about 20 minutes. Stir in the Parmesan. Remove from the heat but cover to keep warm.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix together the Ricotta, Mascarpone, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Put this in the refrigerator.

Warm the Marinara sauce slowly so as not to scorch it.

Stir the polenta. Using a tablespoon or a small ice-cream scoop, put a mound of the cheese mixture into each of 8 silicone cupcake liners, or custard cups. Ladle the hot polenta over the cheese and top with the toasted, hot and cheesy Pumpkin balls.

Serve Marinara on the side.

You can invert the liners or cups onto your plate to eat, or you can eat this right from the container.

You shouldn’t need more cheese, but have it ready, just in case. I like a Red, fruity wine with this.

Recent Gawkers

tuilelai