Polenta Pizza

Have you ever tried to google 'pizza quotes'? 

I have. Here's a glimpse. 

"Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Small, large, circle, square, thick crust, thin crust, stuffed crust, extra toppings"

"Pizza is a lot like sex, when its good, its very good. When its bad, its still pretty good" 

"The best feeling is love. When you know you're going to have pizza for dinner"

"Who needs friends when you have Pizza"

"People disappoint, pizza is eternal"

"Happiness is a slice of pizza" 

And you know what, I agree with them all!! All except the last one. For me, happiness is a whole pizza. And Joey doesn't share food. In this scenario, I'm Joey! 

So you see, Pizza or as I like to call it, the food of Gods, is my favourite thing on the entire planet. I mean I could totally live off happily on pizzas for the rest of my life. Pizza triumphs when compared to love, friends, people, sex and beauty! I mean really, please don't even try to debate me on that, you'll lose. 

If you've been reading my posts for long, you'll see how fond I am of Pizzas. Take a look here! 

As for today, in the mood to experiment and some time on my hand I went to the kitchen to make polenta pizza crust. And the experiment was super successful! Do you see what I mean! 

This crust is near perfect. I say near because I still need to smoothen out the edges and prevent the little bit of cracking that happened but I'd say it makes for an excellent Pizza recipe! I used my balsamic vinegar infused marinara sauce that I usually simmer for a couple of hours to have a complex intensity of flavours and topped it off with oven roasted tomatoes, olives, corn and basil. 

This also makes for an excellent gluten free option and I love how beautiful it looks as compared to a wheat based pizza. The best part is there's no yeast! Lets get to it then, shall we?! 

Serves: 2, 9" pizzas

Time taken: 1 hour (including cooling time)

Complexity: ***

You'll need

2 cups of cornmeal

750 ml water (add more if reqd)

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp chili flakes

1 tsp salt

3 cloves garlic, grated

pinch of love

drizzle of olive oil

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Marinara sauce (My recipe is here)

Sundried tomatoes or Oven roasted tomatoes (my recipe is here)

Method

Begin by greasing your baking trays or oven proof plates. 

For this gorgeous flavourful crispy crust we need to cook the cornmeal. For that, take a pot that can hold 750 ml water. To that water, add in the salt, grated garlic and chili flakes. 

Heat the water on medium high heat till it comes to a rolling boil like this. 

In another bowl, take the cornmeal and add the dried herbs to it. Whisk them all together so they are all combined. 

In a steady stream, when the water is boiling, add in the cornmeal and keep stirring to avoid any lumps. 

Keep cooking this for a minimum of 5-7 minutes till it looks like this. If you need you can add in couple tbsp water or a tbsp of flour to get the right proportion. 

While it is hot, divide the batter in two parts and spread it on the baking tray immediately. Try oiling the spoon before you spread out the batter. It helped me tremendously! 

Make the crust as thick or thin you like. Mine was a medium crust with comparatively thin edges. Set this in the fridge to cool down and set for 30 minutes minimum upto 2 hours. 

Preheat your oven at 200C or 400F. Take the baking tray out of the fridge and place in the oven to bake for 10-12 minutes till your crust starts crisping up. Once baked, remove from the oven. The base should be slightly golden and it should pop off the tray very easily. 

To top your pizza, you can choose to use the toppings of your choice. I went with a vegetarian option today beginning by smearing the polenta crust with my trusted Marinara sauce recipe. Look how gorgeous this looks! The yellow and red have me salivating already! 

Adding the oven roasted, slightly blistered and full of flavour tomatoes on the top. Grate some cheese, add olives and corn and place in the oven to bake for 10 minutes till cheese is golden and bubbly. Add  basil chiffonade or just tear a few basil leaves on it for a fresh bright burst of flavour. You can also add parmesan if you want.

Tell me you won't bite into it RIGHT NOW?! 

Stunning, right?! 

That herb laden crispy crust with that dark, intense marinara and that juicy burst from the tomatoes, the salty olives and those golden corn kernels echoing the taste of the crust..... I'm salivating as I type! 

My friends, you really HAVE to try this once, for the love of God! Indulge!