I‘m sure there is probably an official “Pizza Day” because this is a country that celebrates everything—right? Well, I have no idea when Pizza Day is, but we’re celebrating pizza all week at Eat Laugh Purr. Why? Because I love it.
Okay, I probably don’t love it as much as I love Max. Or Emeril. Or my sweet Mo who was only with me for a few short weeks. I realized the other day that February might be my least favorite month. Mo died in February. Emeril’s b-day is in February. All things that make me weepy. It seems wrong to be so weepy during a month that celebrates love. Then again, I am weepy because I love them, so I guess it makes perfect sense.
Now let’s get back to talking pizza before I succumb to the sniffles. Pizza makes me happy. Very, very happy. I liked pizza as a kid, although I enjoy it even more as an adult. Growing up, my mom made hamburger pizza because it was inexpensive and everyone liked hamburger—except me. Bleech.
Now days, my pizzas do not have hamburger on them, and I enjoy more exotic pizzas. All right. I admit my favorite pizza is cheese. Back off! I do like exotic pizzas from real Italian Pizzerias rather than nationwide chains (although I eat those too!). I decided to expand my palate and made a couple of new pizzas. First up is a breakfast pizza.
I love breakfast and I love pizza. Makes perfect sense to combine them. This also goes a step further by replacing the typical crust with polenta. It was really good, even though I overcooked my eggs. I like my eggs runny and thought they looked runny, but they weren’t. Fortunately, it was still good. 😀
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Polenta Pizza with Spinach Eggs and Bacon
Adapted from Life Tastes Like Food
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups polenta
- 3 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 4-6 eggs
- 4 slices of bacon, crumbled
- 1 (6 oz) bag of baby spinach
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 shallot, minced
- 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- In a sauce pan, bring broth to a boil then add polenta. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 20 minutes or until polenta pulls from the side of the pan. Stir frequently.
- Add butter, parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Stir until butter and parmesan melt and incorporate into the polenta.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread polenta mixture on the baking sheet while building a slight edge to contain all the toppings. Let the mixture cool for 20 minutes, then cover with plastic wrap and transfer to the fridge. Cool for an additional 30 minutes or even overnight.
- When ready to assemble pizza, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove the crust from fridge and bake for about 45 minutes (or until it’s firm).
- While the crust is cooking, fry the bacon until crisp, then drain on a paper-lined plate. Pour excess grease from pan but don’t rinse it. In the same pan, saute the shallot and garlic for 2 minutes, then add the spinach and cook until the spinach is wilted.
- Layer spinach mixture, bacon, and cheese on the crust. Carefully crack eggs on top and salt and pepper to taste.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes so the egg whites are set, but the yolks are still runny or cooked to your preference.
Special Notes:
If you are not going to eat this in one sitting, like me, make multiple crusts. Polenta reheats beautifully, but I don’t think eggs really do. Just store your extra polenta crust(s) until the next day and follow the instructions from Step 4 and on.
Next time I will only bake for 10 minutes (after I add the toppings) and broil for a couple of minutes to finish cooking the egg whites. By the time my egg whites were done, my eggs were hard too, and I prefer them runny.
Enjoy!
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