Baked Polenta with Swiss Chard and Cheese

Remember yesterday's polenta? Well, I had some leftover, and I had some gorgeous swiss chard from my CSA. Really, is there anything prettier than swiss chard?? It makes me happy just looking at it.

So, anyway you know the drill by now. I went out to Epicurious and found Baked Polenta with Swiss Chard. By the way, is anyone else wondering about the 150+ cookbooks that I have on my shelves, sitting there all lonesome like while I search the world wide web? It's just that it's so darn faster. I started pulling off books and looking at the index for swiss chard, you'd be surprised how little I found for it...or maybe not. But really, I had swiss chard, I had leftover polenta and within minutes I had a recipe using both. Win!

I didn't make the recipe exactly as written since I used leftover polenta. So I just skipped the whole cooking the polenta part. I didn't have grated mozzarella, I had those small balls of fresh mozzarella. So, I just sort of smooshed them around and tore them into pieces. And I didn't have a cute low sided casserole dish, which I think would have looked better. But still it was good. I love combination of the polenta and the swiss chard. Of course, the bacon and the cheese helped too.

Baked Polenta with Swiss Chard
Serves 8

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large white onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 pound Swiss chard, thick stems and ribs removed, leaves cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide strips

3 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup polenta (coarse cornmeal) or yellow cornmeal

1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
2 cups coarsely grated low-fat mozzarella cheese (about 8 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil 2-quart glass baking dish. Heat oil in heavy large deep skillet over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in garlic and crushed red pepper, then chard; cover and cook until chard is tender, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Uncover; stir until any excess liquid in skillet evaporates. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, bring 3 1/2 cups water and salt to boil in heavy large saucepan. Gradually stir polenta into boiling water. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until polenta is very thick, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Whisk ricotta and eggs in bowl; whisk in 1 cup hot polenta. Stir ricotta mixture into polenta in saucepan. Spread half of polenta mixture in baking dish. Spread half of chard mixture over. Sprinkle with half of mozzarella. Repeat layering with remaining polenta, chard, and cheese. Bake until puffed and brown on top, about 45 minutes. Cool 30 minutes.