Yotam Ottolenghi and Noor Murad of The Ottolenghi Test Kitchen (OTK), came up with this baked polenta dish that’s covered in creamy béchamel, feta, oregano and za’atar tomatoes, for their latest cookbook, Extra Good Things. For the uninitiated, North London-based OTK, was founded by Yotam, a New York Times best-selling cookbook author,  weekly columnist for The Guardian and owner of several restaurants. 

This dish is rich in flavor and low in gluten, making it a tasty alternative for those who can’t stomach traditional pies. Not everybody agrees on that distinction, however, “It’s not a pizza,” insisted Noor, the Bahraini-born chef and lead member of OTK, when talking with colleagues about this dish. 

While we agree with Noor, we also understand the impulse to call it a pizza –– it’s covered in sumptuous toppings,  comes out of the oven with a crackly edge and has a delightfully cheesy middle. The pizza went through several names at OTK, like polenta-pizza, polizza and polenta not-a-pizza. Whatever you want to call it, it’s packed with herbal flavor from generous sprinklings of oregano and za’atar(a Middle Eastern spice mixture that includes thyme, marjoram, sumac and toasted sesame seeds). It also uses a béchamel that starts with a roux, which calls for a bit of flour. To make this pie fully gluten-free, swap gluten-free flour for all-purpose flour. The folks at OTK like to make their za’atar-baked tomatoes with the datterini variety –– small Italian fruits whose name means “little dates” due to their sweetness ––but cherry tomatoes work just as well. We love how quickly these cook in an Ooni, going from raw to juicy and bursting in under 5 minutes, as compared to 45 minutes in a conventional oven.

To keep this recipe fairly easy, it calls for quick-cook polenta, so make sure to check the label. While using regular polenta won’t ruin your meal, it will add an additional 30 minutes to your cook time. 

When using an Ooni, keep in mind that this recipe works best in a 16-inch gas-powered oven like Ooni Karu 16 or Ooni Koda 16. If you’d like to use a 12-inch oven, you can halve the polenta or make two batches on quarter-sheet pans. If you’re using a wood-powered oven, be sure to keep a close eye on the fire to maintain the temperature, so the polenta doesn’t burn.