Blue Cheese and Butternut Squash Polenta Lasagna

By Hklbrries

Ultrarunning phenom Geoff Roes's supercharged training fuel

Geoff Roes has never lost a 100-mile trail race. Last year he lopped an astounding 29 minutes off the course record at the Western States Endurance Run, in California's Sierra Nevada, where he returns to defend his title on June 25. What powers his 35-hour, 120-mile training weeks? Polenta lasagna. "It's calorically dense and sticks with you," Roes says. "You can get some serious energy out of it." Here's Roes' recipe, which takes two hours to make (including about 40 minutes of prep) but is good for four servings of leftovers.

Ingredients

• 3 cups water
• 1 1/4 cups coarse ground polenta
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 minced cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest (optional)
• 2 cups peeled and diced butternut squash
• 1/2 cup blue cheese
• 1 diced tomato
• 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese, divided equally
• Chopped walnuts
• Udo's Oil 3-6-9 Blend (for drizzling)

Preparation

Step 1

Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan and whisk in ground polenta, olive oil, salt, garlic and lemon zest (optional). Stir for five minutes over medium-low heat before pouring onto a 9-by-18-inch baking sheet brushed with olive oil. Cool for an hour in the fridge.

Bake peeled and diced butternut squash for 20 minutes at 375 F.

Grease a 9-inch-square baking dish with olive oil. Transfer half the polenta into the dish and brush with olive oil. Evenly spread squash, blue cheese, diced tomato and 4 ounces shredded mozzarella over the polenta. Cover with remaining polenta and brush with olive oil. Add 4 more ounces of shredded mozzarella on top.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 375 F. Finish by removing foil and baking until top is golden brown (10 to 15 minutes).

Garnish with chopped walnuts and a drizzling of Udo's Oil 3-6-9 Blend for some essential fatty acid.