Pumpkin polenta with cod au gratin ⋆ SOULFOOD.nl

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Pumpkin polenta is a fancy word for Scrabble, isn't it? But with this dish you also score good points outside of playing! Together with the fish au gratin you can make a complete meal of it… and everything is ready within an hour anyway. That's what I call convenient!

If, like me, you have a link with the Antilles, you might call 'polenta' (cooked cornmeal) more 'funchi'. Yet I choose the Italian name in this recipe, because we keep the cornmeal nice and soft in Italian. In Curaçao we are used to the fact that the funchi becomes firm after cooking and can be cut into slices. The Italians eat their polenta a bit softer, like risotto. So it can 'walk' over the plate a bit and you can eat it as a soft puree.

The pumpkin makes the polenta nice and sweet. We give this sweetness a nice counterpart with the cheese and spices. With the fish it is really a nice plate!

Other fish species

We make this au gratin fish with a piece of cod fillet, but feel free to try a different type of fish. Plaice, salmon, sea bass… you can actually prepare just about any kind of fish this way. And while the oven does the work, you have enough time to prepare the rest of the meal. So efficient.

And come on, you can use frozen fish for this recipe. Cooking in the oven is one of the few preparations where it makes (almost) no difference.

This recipe is for 4 people. Halving or doubling is fine!

pumpkin polenta au gratin cod fish with a crust

Ingredients:

For the gratin fish

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
2 tbsp olive oil
30 gr coarse breadcrumbs or Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
a bunch of flat-leaf parsley or a tablespoon of dried parsley
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
750 gr cod fillet – in one piece, or loose pieces

For the pumpkin polenta

a small butternut squash, about 700 gr
300 gr pre-steamed cornmeal (Harina PAN)
50 gr butter
1 tl paprika
1 tsp black pepper
50 gr grated cheese (preferably mature)
1 tsp salt
a pinch of cayenne pepper, to taste

Preparation pumpkin polenta

Peel the butternut squash and then cut it into pieces. Boil the pumpkin in salted water until cooked. Then drain the water and puree or mash the pumpkin completely fine. Then mix this puree with half a liter of water.

Now proceed with the preparation of the fish. (see below) When the fish is in the oven, make the pumpkin polenta as described below.

Heat a large pan on the stove and add the pumpkin mixture. Add the butter, paprika, pepper, salt and cayenne pepper and stir well. Now add the cornmeal all at once and stir the polenta very well with a whisk so that you don't get lumps.

Let the polenta simmer gently for about XNUMX minutes. Feel free to add more water in the meantime. The pumpkin polenta should be (hot, in the pan) about as thick as vanilla custard. Finally, add the grated cheese and stir well once more. Let the polenta with the lid on the pan firm up a bit before serving.

Preparation cod au gratin

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and prepare a large baking dish.

Chop the onion and fry it in the olive oil for a few minutes, until the onion pieces are translucent. Then add the crushed garlic cloves and fry for another minute together with the onion. Then turn off the fire.

Place the onion and garlic in a bowl and stir in the chopped parsley and breadcrumbs. Season the mixture with salt, pepper and possibly some paprika.

Make sure the cod fillet is thoroughly dry. Then place the fish in the baking tin and divide the mixture you just made over it. Press it well, so that it will soon become a firm crust.

Then place the baking pan in the oven and let the cod cook for about 15 minutes, while the top is nicely colored and crispy. Once the fish is in the oven, move on to making the pumpkin polenta.

When both parts are ready, it's time to lay out the boards. Spoon a generous ladle of the polenta in the center of each plate and top with a piece of cod au gratin. We then decorated the dish with pickled onion rings and some drops of sambal/hot sauce. - Enjoy your dinner!