I mean, doesn’t that look delicious?

I love a good lasagna, but sometimes I don’t feel like wrangling boiling hot noodles. This polenta lasagna is all the flavor of the traditional dish, but with slightly less effort and an added creamy texture. Also, it’s even better reheated the next day (as it appears in the above photo).

Polenta Lasagna

Serves 4

Ingredients:

-Polenta, hot and prepared Bon Appetit Instant Pot style (you start with 1 cup dry polenta if you want to follow a different recipe)

-1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed

-2-3 cups marinara sauce

-Shredded mozzarella cheese

-1-1.5 cups prepared béchamel sauce – I recommend Massimo Bottura’s method

-Freshly grated pecorino Romano cheese

Directions:

First, you’ll need to prepare the polenta. The Bon Appetit recipe I linked above is the best recipe I’ve ever found and it’s perfect for this dish because you add 4 oz. of pecorino Romano cheese, butter and ground pepper – that’s a lot of good flavor!

However you decide to make it, just before it’s done, spray a half sheet pan with cooking oil. Carefully pour the hot polenta onto the pan and spread it into an even layer. This doesn’t have to be perfect. I think my polenta was about 1/4 inch thick.

Let the polenta cool completely. I set it outside since it was 43 F.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Heat a medium pan over medium-high heat and add the sausage. Cook until browned. Set aside.

In the meantime, prepare your béchamel. Now it’s assembly time.

Using a paring knife and possibly a measuring tape, determine what size you should cut your polenta. I made my sheets 5×7 inches, which meant two pieces per layer with three layers. I didn’t cut them too wide or long because I didn’t want them to break as I lifted them off the pan.

Lightly spray a smallish casserole dish with cooking spray. My dish was 10×7″. Ladle some marinara into the bottom of the dish and distribute evenly.

Carefully lift your polenta pieces from the pan using a fish spatula and place them into the casserole dish. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the sausage. Pour 1/3 of the béchamel over the sausage and use a rubber spatula to spread it out across the polenta. Pour on some more marinara and spread it out too. Sprinkle lightly with shredded mozzarella (or heavily if you desire).

Repeat with the remaining polenta, sausage, béchamel, marinara and mozzarella. Sprinkle the top layer with grated pecorino.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 if you want the top to brown a little. Remove from oven and let sit 5-10 minutes or until you can’t stand it anymore.

Store any leftovers in an airtight container and reheat in the microwave for ultimate second day satisfaction.