“Braai tart” – Polenta, Mushroom and Bacon tart

Like every other Saturday my husband have the urge to “braai”. This ritual starts in Spring and continues well into the winter. Yip that’s my hubby! , facing the icy cold winters of the Highveld armed with his beanie, winter jacket and a scarf and his bottle of mixed spices turning ordinary lamb chops into succulent little dreams.

Unfortunately the side dishes is not his forte’, instead he likes to order me around. His favorite would be “pap tert” (a maize meal tart).

I decided it is about time that we jazz up the old maize tart a bit, you know, making it a bit more sophisticated, so instead of using ordinary maize meal in boring layers I used Polenta instead.

To all the vegetarians out there, feel free to remove the bacon from this recipe, I would’ve but my husband is a carnivore and he tends to get a bit grumpy if there is no extra meat in a savory tart!

 

Serves 8

Polenta crust

Polenta ( about 1 cup cooked in 4 cups of water, should be a spreadable consistancy)

2 tbs garlic butter

salt to taste

Filling

125 g white button mushrooms (1/2 punnet)

125 g Portobello mushrooms (+- 4 large)

1 Onion – sliced

Olive oil for frying

a pinch of dry thyme

100 g bacon bits

2 tbs tomato puree

1/2 tsp of sugar

100 ml milk

1 egg

2 heaped tbs of flour

2 ml salt

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup Gouda Cheese

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Rub your pie dish with butter. Cook polenta, stir in the garlic butter and set aside keeping the lid on your pot to keep the polenta warm.

Fry the onions and mushrooms with the thyme in olive oil. Add the bacon bits and fry for another minute. Add the tomato puree and the sugar, fry for another minute.

In a measuring cup add the flour and salt to the milk and mix, add the egg mixing it again.

Use a the back of a metal tablespoon or a spatula to spread an even layer of polenta to the bottom of your pie dish covering the sides as well.

Add the mushroom filling on top of the polenta and pour the milk mixture over it.

Top with the cheese and bake for +- 15 -20 minutes.