Vegetarian T-Day Entree recipe

Looking for a new veggie dish to serve at Thanksgiving? Say adios to green bean casserole and hello to this polenta and black bean extravaganza. There's no reason meat eaters should have all the flavorful fun on Thanksgiving. Finding a vegetarian entrée to replace turkey can be a daunting task, but this hearty dish combines two heavy-hitters of the season, squash and corn, with a little south-of-the-border kick. Chili powder, black beans, Soyrizo — if only those pilgrims could see us now.

If you're not familiar with Soyrizo, it's a soy-based substitute for chorizo, a spicy Mexican pork sausage. I'm not a big fan of fake meat, but this one tastes just as good as the real thing, and it doesn't have the weird chewy bits.

Read on for the recipe...

Polenta and Black Bean Casserole

Soyrizo is available in the refrigerator section of many supermarkets and Whole Foods. It's medium-spicy, so if you don't like spicy food, omit the Soyrizo and add 2 teaspoons chopped sage to the black beans instead.

• 4 ½ cups water
• 1 ½ cups cornmeal
• 1 10-ounce bag frozen corn, thawed
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 diced medium white onion
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 ½ cups butternut squash, cut into ½-inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15-ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes in juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1 12-ounce package Soyrizo
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella
• Chopped cilantro

Preheat oven to 350°. Bring water to a boil and whisk in cornmeal, lower heat to simmer and add corn, stirring often, about 6 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour into oiled 9 x 13 casserole dish, and refrigerate.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in large pot and sauté onion and garlic until translucent, about 6 minutes. Add butternut squash and stir to combine. Add chili powder, beans, tomatoes with juices, salt and pepper. Let simmer 25 minutes. If mixture gets too thick, add ½ cup of water or vegetable broth to thin it out.

Remove casing from Soyrizo and fry in medium skillet over high heat until brown, about 3 minutes

Remove polenta from refrigerator. Spread Soyrizo over polenta. Sprinkle all over with 1 ½ cups mozzarella, then cover with bean mixture. Sprinkle with remaining 1 ½ cups mozzarella. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve.

Serves 6 to 8.

Comments

This sounds delicious, but in the list of ingredients, the amount of polenta is not indicated. Thx.

I do believe that is what the cornmeal is...

Dan, you are right! Polenta is Italian for cornmeal. You can use the fancy stuff labeled "polenta" or just regular 'ol cornmeal like I did, which is less expensive. Enjoy!

This sounds great. I'm vegan so I'd use soy cheese, but other than that, it sounds wonderful. I've made a vegan Thanksgiving meal for my meat-eating family the last few years and they always love it. I usually make a veggie potpie (sometimes with soy chicken), but I might go with this, this year!

This sounds great, and I definitely want to try it, but I'm not sure about Mexican food for Thanksgiving. I was thinking of making macaroni and cheese. Cassandra's veggie pot-pie sounds delicious, though. Any other ideas that are kind of "home on the hearth"?

Stephanie, check out Tuesday's amazing mushroom casserole recipe for another veggie Thanksgiving dish!

I've also served the retro-but-good risotto in hollowed-out peppers as my veggie entree.

This is Thanksgiving not a football weekend. Did the indians or Mayflower colonists eat this, or anything resembling it? Yack. This is on par with tofurky. Throw me some cranberry sauce.

Wow David,
That's pretty harsh, it looks pretty good to me. I agree that Tofurkey is odd, but I've been eating Soyrizo for a while, and although I'm not a Vegi., I like it better than the real thing.
As for beans, corn, and squash- Yes I believe they did have those items back in Ye Olde Plymouth.