Lemon Polenta Cake (with Mashed Potato)

We had bangers and mash twice over the last week or so and there were still potatoes left. A couple of years ago Mr VST's cousin and her now husband came to visit. She is coeliac and we are vegetarian so it was tricky to find something that we could all eat. I made us dahl and gluten-free lemon drizzle cake for pudding.

Ingredients

Cake:

200g butter, softened

200g golden caster sugar
4 eggs
175g ground almonds or polenta (or a mix of both)
250g mashed potatoes
zest 3 lemons
2 tsp gluten-free baking powder

Drizzle:
Juice of one lemon

4 tablespoons granulated sugar

Method:

1. So it starts off pretty normal, cream together the butter and sugar.

 2. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix in well.

 3. Add the ground almonds or polenta or mix of the two as in my case today as well as the lemon zest and the baking powder.

 4. Here's where is gets a bit strange, you then add the mashed potato. Make sure you mix it in well.

 5. Put the batter into a greased pan (mine was 23cm the original recipe suggests 20cm) and smooth down the top. Bake at 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 for 40-45 mins.

6. Turn out onto a wire rack after 10 minutes cooling. Mix the granulated sugar and the lemon juice together, then spoon over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. Let the cake cool completely before slicing. You end up with an incredibly moist and delicious lemon polenta cake.

 Ta da!

The polenta I used was very fine and so the cake doesn't have that grainy texture that some lemon polenta cakes have. 

Soft Polenta Broccoli

I had spotted the soft polenta broccoli in Appetite for Reduction a couple of weeks ago when I decided to go for the '40 clove broccoli' instead. As I was home today with some lonely looking broccoli in the fridge and some polenta in the cupboard I decided to try some for my lunch. I had already given polenta a second chance in the cornbread and it impressed me so I thought I'd like to try it 'soft' to see what it was like. It was surprisingly good! I can appreciate it won't be to everyone's taste, or really texture. It was like a thick kind of savoury porridge or ready brek. I liked it though.  I can see this being a winter diet staple as it was only 160 calories and yet really filling. You could add any kind of vegetable to it although some may need to be cooked before hand.