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Herby Polenta With Corn, Eggs and Feta
![Herby Polenta With Corn, Eggs and Feta](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/05/29/dining/28ottorex/merlin_154779477_40a4bb19-c6f1-4cf6-9fdd-648e194154b3-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 9ounces/255 grams frozen corn kernels (about 2 cups), defrosted
- 7ounces/200 grams baby spinach (about 10 lightly packed cups), roughly torn or sliced
- 1cup/150 grams coarse cornmeal
- 1packed cup/50 grams finely grated Parmesan
- 5scallions (spring onions), thinly sliced, 2 tablespoons reserved for garnish
- ¼cup/20 grams roughly chopped fresh cilantro (coriander), plus 1 tablespoon finely chopped and reserved for garnish
- 3tablespoons roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 3tablespoons roughly chopped fresh dill
- 4garlic cloves, finely chopped
- Salt and black pepper
- 2¼cups/530 milliliters whole milk
- 2cups/475 milliliters chicken stock
- 3tablespoons/40 grams unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 5ounces/140 grams Greek feta, roughly crumbled (about 1 cup)
- 8medium eggs, at room temperature
- 2tablespoons olive oil
- ½teaspoon red-pepper flakes
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit/200 degrees Celsius.
- Step 2
Add the corn to a food processor and pulse once or twice, just until roughly chopped. Transfer corn to a large bowl and add the spinach, cornmeal, Parmesan, scallions, ¼ cup cilantro, parsley, dill, garlic, 1½ teaspoons salt and a good grind of pepper; stir to combine. Transfer this mixture to a large, deep, oven-proof skillet, then add the milk, stock and butter, stirring gently to mix through. Transfer to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and give everything a good whisk.
- Step 3
Return to the oven and bake until the cornmeal is cooked through and the mixture has thickened, about 20 minutes. Give the polenta another good whisk — it should be quite smooth and not completely set — then stir in half the feta. Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees Fahrenheit/220 degrees Celsius.
- Step 4
Use a dinner spoon to make 8 shallow wells in the polenta. Crack an egg into each well and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the remaining feta all over, and bake until the egg whites are cooked and the yolks are still runny, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Step 5
Meanwhile, combine the reserved scallions and cilantro in a bowl with the oil. Spoon this mixture all over the polenta and eggs and sprinkle with the red-pepper flakes. Serve directly from the pan.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Chop the corn with a knife or leave it whole! No need to dirty a food processor for this one step. Also in the interest of cutting down on dishes, ingredients can be mixed directly in the skillet. I cut the recipe in half, baked in an 8 inch skillet, and it turned out very well.
I haven't tried this but This use of vegetables is intriguing. However, I do use polenta a lot and mostly cook it in the microwave. 1 liter of water + salt. Nuke for 5 min. Add 250 g polenta and beat with rotary beater. Nuke for 10 min. Beat again with rotary beater and Nuke again for 8-10 min. Comes out perfect, creamy, just the right thing for ossobuco or any other dish with a good sauce. Thought I would share this
They’re not the same. Grits and polenta are made with different types of corn. Grits are a white corn with a soft starch. Polenta is made from a yellow corn and has a hard starch. So, the flavor profile and texture are different between grits and polenta.
Made this tonight with a portion of buttermilk— it’s really satisfying. Love that the nestled-in eggs stay nice and warm! I opted to mix the ingredients in a large bowl. I envisioned a drippy cast iron skillet mess! Next time I’ll try blitzing the greens for a finer final texture. This would be an attractive brunch dish with red chard. My finicky eater wanted to know why there are so many new dinners! She is a teen in ramen-overdrive. I love a new and novel NYT recipe.
really interesting. There is less polenta here than I expected. It's more what binds the spinach/herb/corn mixture together. But the flavors blend together really well. Also, personally, I don't like fried eggs, but my wife does. So I made half with the eggs the ways she likes, and half I stirred together eggs and milk, then poured the mixture into the wells. The recipes a keeper!
I made it in my dutch oven and it was perfect. There was lots of room to stir, which I think might be rather nerve wracking in a shorter sided pan. Plus, polenta is the equivalent of boiling hot glue.
I made up to step 3 on a Sunday evening, put this in the fridge and continued with steps 4 and 5 on Monday evening after work. It worked like a charm and was a big hit. If you are cooking for a crowd and can polish this off in a sitting, follow the recipe as directed. If you intend to chip away at this over a few days, omit the eggs and throw a fried egg on top before serving as you heat up portions during the week.
My father, not Italian, also cooked it in the pot first, then baked in a pan. Every Christmas morning, he would fry those slices in butter, and serve along with bacon, toast and orange juice ( a treat as OJ was so expensive in the 1950's). He hated the smell of eggs, so he never cooked those (something about his service in the Navy.......).
This recipe has half a day's sodium. To lower that, use unsalted or low-sodium stock (I make my own from bones and veggie scraps) and do not salt before tasting.
If the grains are the same size as sugar, it is fine. If they resemble your course kosher salt, i.e., are five to six times as large, it is course, in between, medium. Go to the store and invest in a small bag of course-ground polenta. Bob's Red Mill is widely available and will hold out longer before it turns into a solid mass.
Swap the spinach for the same weight of arugula. No need to chop if it's small leaves. It's excellent.
What do you think about substituting water for the whole milk? Also, which is my best choice for "large, deep, oven-proof skillet?" I have: a cast iron Dutch oven, 10-inch; an 14-inch All-Clad deep skillet; a larger size Le Creuset Dutch oven (larger than my cast-iron one); a 9-inch cast-iron skillet. What would fit all the ingredients and provide the proper cooking tool. Nothing seems quite right except the All-Clad but my concern is that the ingredients will stick. Thanks so much.
After making it two times 1/2 cup reduction is the magic number. All that spinach and corn add liquid!
Very nice! On the other hand, skip the eggs and replace them with prosciutto.
Will make it tonight. Summery, but stick to ribs hybrid. The baking of polenta is the best thing I have learned from NYT food this year!
Came across this as I needed to find a use to clean out my fridge. Used the food processor to coarse chop the spinach too since it was already dirty from the corn. Final dish reminded me if creamed corn met saag paneer.
Halve the salt
I skipped chopping the frozen corn and loved having the larger bite - agree, no need for that step. Don't go short on the herbs. So good.
So satisfying! I agree you can chop the corn with a knife. I made the recipe minus the eggs because I wasn’t serving right away but I think that addition will be good! It’s really good reheated and with pickled onions on top.
yummm
Threw this together with canned corn, frozen spinach, skipping a bunch of the ingredients and I’m happy with the results! I’m sure it’d be better with everything but for a one-pot weeknight dinner it works out.
My sis-in-law and I cooked this up together while we were all watching today's JAN6 committee hearings. It was pretty liquidy after the first 20 mins, so we cooked it down a bit on the stove, & then returned it to the oven. Absolutely scrumptious!
This is Delicious! I chopped corn with knife. Sauteed some leek,garlic,jalapeño,diced zucch in oil in the skillet, then added the rest ingred (after it cooled some) For our tastes, used less spinach & parmesan. Combined 1/2c fine grind w/1/2c medium grind corn meal. Skipped the eggs (&feta on top) and dill (allergies). Kept the scallions&cilantro on top. Served with salad and roasted asparagus. Used 12” pan w/3”sides. No way this would fit my 10” staub Universally loved
Made with fresh marjoram and dried dill as that's what I had. Poached the egg and scrambled some for my 5 yr old. Otherwise as written. We loved it! Warm and comforting. And the 5 year old ate it. The kid who in the past has literally gagged on spinach.
I love anything Ottolenghi! Surprised by how quickly this came together, despite the long ingredient list. To make this more friendly to my lactose sensitive husband, I replaced the whole milk with soy milk and a large scoop of yogurt, the butter with bacon drippings, and used a goats milk feta. Turned out amazing!
Roasted corn would make this an excellent dish. The texture and flavor of essentially defrosted corn in the written recipe really detracts from an otherwise tasty polenta.
What exactly is "coarse" cornmeal? Can I just use ordinary cornmeal as long as it's not quick-cooking? (Not sure what that is either but I assume it would say "quick-cooking" on the label.)
Excellent brunch dish for a crowd. The polenta is rich so this easily serves six. I made it without the spinach because my husband doesn't like it (oxalates), and without dill because we don't like dill. A small bit of fresh tarragon would be a nice herbaceous addition.
This was a great meal prep breakfast! I prepared to halfway through step 3, portioned out, and finished in the morning. I swapped the dill for jalapeño as a personal preference and it was really good! Will definitely make again.
Wow! Loved it. For me, the amount of liquid was just right—a wonderful creamy texture. The flavors were vibrant (the dill took center stage), and the polenta and dairy created a super-comforting base. As a previous cook noted, eggs cooked quickly. At 7 minutes, already getting jammy.
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