Chicory, sausage & black olive polenta tart
1 orange, juiced and zested 2 tsp honey 2-3 heads of red chicory, halved olive oil or rapeseed oil 1 chicken or vegetable stock cube 200g quick-cook polenta 200g taleggio cheese, thinly sliced and broken into smaller pieces 4 good-quality Italian sausages handful of black olives, pitted and halved or squashed good pinch of chilli flakes
1 Put the orange juice and honey in a large frying pan and bubble until reduced to a sticky glaze. Add the chicory and cook for 2 mins, turning once until it just starts to soften, then leave in the pan to cool. Once cooled, cut each piece of chicory in half again. Heat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas Mark 6 and boil the kettle. Line a large baking sheet with parchment and oil it lightly.
2 Crumble the stock cube into a large pan and add 1 litre hot water from the kettle. Bring the water back to the boil, then quickly pour in the polenta and cook for 5 mins, whisking the whole time. It will be really thick once cooked. Tip the polenta on to the baking sheet and spread out to make the tart base – it should be about 2-3cm thick.
3 Top with the cheese, arrange the chicory pieces on top in a fan, then crumble small chunks of sausage around them, discarding the skins. Add the olives, chilli, orange zest, a good drizzle of olive oil and some seasoning. Bake for 20 mins then turn the grill on for a final few mins until the sausages are browned and the polenta is starting to crisp. Leave to stand for a few mins, then serve warm.
Recipe tip
Find taleggio in larger supermarkets, Italian delis or online. If you can’t source it for this recipe, use mozzarella.