Author Notes: I had this at 5 Points in NYC for brunch many years ago and it has remained one of my favorite breakfasts to date…especially good when cobbled together from leftovers, you can cheat and use the tube polenta and canned tomatoes if you don’t happen to have leftover polenta or roasted tomatoes laying about. If you plan ahead, ( and have a gas oven) you can place halved plum tomatoes sprinlked with olive oil salt & pepper (maybe some orange zest & rosemary) in the oven the night before. Using best quality fresh ricotta and wonderful farm fresh eggs will elevate this , but it’s pretty darn good with regular old ingredients as well…you can add to this if you wish: A few slices of proscuitto can be added, left over roasted zucchini or spinach would work well,, or you can do away with the tomatoes & ricotta altogether and add some pan seared or left over cooked mushrooms, a little cream and a nice drizzle of truffle oil, —Aliwaks
Serves: 2
Ingredients
Baked Polenta, eggs, ricotta
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2
cups leftover polenta
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4
halves rosted tomatoes
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4
beautiful eggs
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1/4
grated ricotta salata
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3/4
cup fresh ricotta
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1 +
tablespoons olive oil
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1
sprig fresh rosemary
Roasted Tomatoes
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2
large nice plum tomatoes
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1
tablespoon olive oil
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1
teaspoon grated orange zest
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1
sprig rosemary (small)
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Salt & pepper
Directions
Baked Polenta, eggs, ricotta
- Drizzle olive oil in bottom of oven proof dish
- Prepare polenta according to package (feel free to add a bit more milk, a bit more butter a nice handful of ricotta salata or percorino cheese), if using left over polenta, warm in pan with small amount of milk or stock till creamy, if using polenta in a tube, mash with potato masher first..then warm in pan with milk or stock the end result should be creamy
- pour polenta in to oven proof dish, make little indentations for eggs
- crack eggs into little indentations
- arrange tomatoes around eggs
- dollop ricotta around ( not over egg yolk)
- Sprinkle with Ricotta Salata
- Drizzle with remaining Olive Oil, & lay rosemary branch over top
- Cover with foil ( or if cooking vessel has cover use that)
- Cook in 350 degree over @ 15 – 20 min till whites are set
- remove foil, cover & rosemary sprig & flash under broiler for a minute or two, yolks should be runny..sometimes they are not, which is also ok but not as wonderful
- To serve: Fresh cracked black pepper and really good salt.. and extra drizzle of good olive oil won’t hurt neither will torn basil leaves of chopped chives.
Roasted Tomatoes
- Halve tomatoes and set cut side down in small oven proof dish.
- Drizzle with olive oil, zest, salt & pepper
- set rosemary sprig in pan
- roast at 300 till soft …maybe 1 hr – 45 or leave over night in gas oven