Tuesday 31 January 2012

Gluten-free , but by no means taste-free, Polenta Lasagna and Chickpea Chocolate Cake

I've got to say, when I saw a recipe for a chickpea chocolate cake, I knew I had to try it!
The cake has only 4 ingredients, chickpeas, eggs, sugar and melted chocolate...a really fantastic combination. It's really moist, but with a nutty texture almost...fudgy, but not sticky. A great tasting cake.
Browsing through my Chatelaine magazine this mornig, I came across a gluten-free lasagna and thought I'd stick to a gluten-free menu, and give the polenta lasagna a go. It turned out to be a very tasty meal, honestly, I didn't miss the pasta.

Easy Polenta Lasagna

Ingredients
    * 450 g ground meat - lean ground beef, ground pork
    * 1 medium onion, finely diced
    * 2 garlic cloves, minced
    * 2 tsp Italian seasoning
    * 796 mL can diced tomatoes, drained
    * 1/4 cup tomato paste
    * 2 tsp brown sugar
    * 1 tsp hot-red-pepper flakes
    * 1/4 tsp salt
    * FOR POLENTA:
    * 2 cups milk
    * 1 cup beef broth, preferably low-sodium
    * 1 cup fine cornmeal
    * 2 cups cheese -  cheddar, mozzarella

Directions
Position oven rack in upper third of oven. Preheat broiler. Lightly spray an 8×8 inch square baking dish.
Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high. Add beef. Using a fork to break up meat, cook until no pink remains, about 2 min. Add onion, garlic and seasoning. Cook until onion is soft, about 3 min. Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, pepper flakes and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 min.
Boil milk and broth in a medium saucepan. Slowly whisk in cornmeal until thickened but still loose, about 1 min. Pour half of polenta into prepared dish and spread to cover bottom. Top with half of meat mixture. Sprinkle with half of cheese. Repeat with remaining polenta, meat and cheese.
I topped mine with a little flat leaf  Italian parsley
Broil until cheese is melted, about 5 min. Let stand 5 min before serving.

Chickpea Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
300g semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 19oz can  chickpeas, drained 4  eggs ¾ cup granulated sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch cake pan – dust with cocoa powder.
Melt chocolate chips in double boiler. In food processor, combine chickpeas, eggs, sugar; process until smooth. Add melted chocolate and blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides.
Spread batter in prepared pan.
Bake 40 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes before transferring to plate.
My make-shift stensil
Simple icing sugar dusting

1 comment:

  1. Lasagne was fantastic.. cant wait to try the cake Yum!!!!

    ReplyDelete