Spinach and Bacon Polenta Pizza

I have a whole bag of coarse cornmeal in my pantry that I have been trying to find a creative way to use. I found a recipe on line that was published in the New York Times. Essentially what they did is make a pizza crust using polenta (awesome) and then topped it with panchetta, onion and spinach! Talk about amazing flavor combo! I tweeked it to my liking and was happy with the results! And it is so EASY! This is what I did:

Spray a cookie sheet with pam

In a saucepan bring to a slight boil:

1/2 cup whole milk

2 1/2 cups water

1 tsp salt

Turn heat down to medium and stir in:

1 cup cornmeal, stir constantly until thickened about 10 minutes

Take off heat and add 1 tbs olive oil

Spoon polenta onto cookie sheet and spread out in a circle to 1/2 in thick about 10-12 inches in diameter. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour to get firm. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take Polenta out of fridge and sprinkle with grated mozzarella cheese. Then into oven for 30 minutes or until edges of polenta become slightly golden. Meanwhile:

In a large saute pan, over medium heat, cook:

1 tbs olive oil

1/2 of a red onion chopped

1 cup chopped bacon

Once onion is tender and bacon is crispy, turn heat off and remove bacon and onion with a slotted spoon, and transfer to a paper towel covered plate. Put 1 bag (10 oz) of spinach in pan and turn heat to low, coating the spinach with leftover oil and cooking juices. Spinach will wilt in about 3 minutes. Remove wilted spinach from pan and mix with bacon and onions. Once polenta crust is out of oven, top with the spinach mixture and cut into slices. So good!!!!!

image by Kar