Polenta with Sauteed Leeks, Zucchini, and Tomatoes

Deep down, I know I'm a fickle foodie. One moment I'm swooning over green beans; the next, I'm madly in love with fish. But in August, my heart has and will always* belong to tomatoes. And when perfectly ripe heirloom cherry tomatoes keep crowding our co-op in fragrant piles of orange and red and yellow, I feel morally obligated to do my part and make this.

You make it, too. Because you're selfless like that, and you don't want the tomatoes to sit there feeling unloved. Also because it's blissfully delicious.

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced
About 3" of a medium leek, white and/or light green parts, halved lengthwise and sliced
2 medium to large garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup (half a basket) cherry tomatoes, halved and sprinkled with a pinch of salt
Big handful basil, chopped
1 cup chicken or veggie broth
1 cup coarsely ground cornmeal (polenta)
1-2 oz. grated Parmesan cheese
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar, reduced (simmer gently in a small pot until volume reduces by half)
(Optional: If you're in the mood, top with a fried pastured egg)

Bring the cup of broth and 2 cups of water to boil in a pot.

Meanwhile, heat a glug of olive oil in a wide nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add the zucchini and fry, turning occasionally, until golden brown on most sides. Push to the side of the pan, turn the heat down a little, and add a drizzle of olive oil and the leeks and a pinch of salt to the other side. Saute the leeks, stirring occasionally, for about two minutes or until they soften. Add the garlic and saute for a minute more, then mix everything together. Add the tomatoes and basil, stir, and turn off the heat. Adjust salt to taste.

Add the polenta to the pot of simmering broth in a slow, steady stream, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Keeping the heat at medium-low, continue to stir slowly until the polenta thickens and just begins to pull away from the sides of the pot. Turn off the heat, and stir in the Parmesan.

Serve the tomato-zucchini mixture over the polenta, drizzle with balsamic reduction, and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.

Serves 2-3.


*Give or take.

Polenta with Tomatoes, Basil, and Balsamic Reduction

Found at Natural Grocers: gorgeous leeks; our favorite broth
Found at Whole Foods: local, ripe tomatoes
Found outside: beautiful weather for a lunchtime picnic on the balcony

The result? An easy, simple, delicious dish that pairs perfectly with a chilled glass of Torrontés (from World Market).

Ingredients
2 cups chicken or veggie broth
1 cup coarsely ground cornmeal (polenta)
Olive oil
2 inches of a medium leek (white and/or light green part), chopped
2 medium-large, local, fragrant tomatoes, cut into bite-size chunks and sprinkled with salt (to bring out the flavor as they sit)
12-20* leaves fresh sweet basil, cut crosswise into halves or thirds
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar, reduced (simmer gently in a small pot until volume reduces by half)
A little Manchego or Parmesan cheese, for grating over the top
Freshly ground black pepper

Bring the broth and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a small pot. Meanwhile, set a nonstick pan over medium-low heat and add a glug of olive oil. Saute the leeks for 3 minutes, or until they soften, then add the tomatoes and stir gently to combine. Turn off the heat (the tomatoes will warm through as you cook the polenta).

Adjust the heat under the small pot to medium, uncover, and slowly add the polenta, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Continue to stir, adjusting the heat if necessary to keep the polenta at a gentle simmer, for 3-5 minutes, until desired consistency (I like it when it just starts to pull away from the side of the pan as you stir). Cover and remove from heat.

Turn the heat back on under the pan of tomatoes for a minute if they're not yet as warm as you'd like them. (If they weren't super fragrant to begin with, you may want to cook them a minute more.) Add the basil and adjust salt to taste.

Serve in layers: polenta, then a little grated cheese, then the tomatoes. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper, and drizzle with balsamic reduction before serving.

Serves 2.


*Go with fewer if store-bought, more if home-grown...the supermarket variety is usually older and therefore sharper, whereas home-grown basil rarely overwhelms the dish.

Butternut Squash Polenta with Sage and Gruyere

You say parsnip addiction, I say parsnip penchant.

We could agree to disagree, or you could surrender to reality. The proof is in the polenta. 

Ingredients
Olive oil
1/2 butternut squash, diced (about 1.3 lbs)
1 large parsnip, diced (about 10 oz.)
1 tbsp pastured butter
2 tbsp chopped fresh sage or a little more (older sage is far less potent, so nibble a piece to taste and adjust if necessary)
1 cup coarsely ground cornmeal (polenta)
2 cups veggie or chicken broth
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese (about 2 oz.)
2 handfuls baby arugula, chopped (about 2-3 oz.)
Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Heat a wide saute pan over medium heat. When hot, add a glug of olive oil. Add the squash and parsnip and toss to coat lightly in oil. Cook, stirring every 2-3 minutes, until the squash begins to take on some color and the pieces are tender (about 7-12 minutes. If your pieces are larger, you may need to cover the pan after they've browned a bit and use the steam to get them to cook through).

Push the veggie to the side of the pan and melt the butter on the other side. Add the sage, stir once or twice, then toss with the squash and parsnip to coat. Sprinkle with salt and turn off the heat.

Meanwhile, bring 2 cups of broth plus one cup of water to a rolling boil in a pot. While stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, add the polenta in a slow stream. Continue to stir constantly, turning the heat down slightly, for 3-4 minutes or until the polenta thickens to almost (but not quite) the desired consistency—think spreadable but thick. Turn off the heat and stir in the cheese and arugula.

Combine the polenta and the veggies in either pot. Stir, and adjust sage and salt to taste. Serve immediately, with freshly ground white pepper over the top. Garnish with a little chopped arugula if desired.

Serves 2 for dinner.


(Note that polenta doesn't reheat well, so if you end up with leftovers, one idea is to press them into a square tupperware, refrigerate, and then slice the block that forms into cakes that you can fry in a little olive oil the next day.)

Easy Polenta with Prosciutto and Tomatoes

For when you're low on energy and motivation and just wish there was something easy to cook that would magically turn out comforting and healthy and gourmet, all at once. (If you do have energy, you can always substitute a chopped tomato and fresh spinach and throw in a little fresh basil. But this lazy version is pretty darn delicious as is.)

Ingredients (per person)

1/2 cup polenta/coarsely-ground cornmeal

1/3 can chopped tomatoes

1/3 cup organic frozen spinach*

2 slices prosciutto, in small pieces or strips

1/4 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese

Olive oil, salt, and black pepper 

Heat 1 1/2 cups water in a small pot until it boils. Add the tomatoes, wait a moment for them to heat through, then sprinkle in the polenta, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Turn the heat down a little and simmer, stirring, for two minutes, then add the frozen spinach and a pinch of salt. Continue cooking and stirring for another two minutes or until spinach is completely defrosted and polenta begins to pull away from the side of the pan. (If the pot starts to dry out before the spinach is done, you can add a splash more water to slow things down.)

Turn off the heat, stir in most of the Parmesan and prosciutto, and serve. Drizzle with a little olive oil, and sprinkle with black pepper and the remaining prosciutto and cheese.

*Good-quality organic frozen spinach (I like Woodstock Farms) is pricier than regular frozen spinach, but worth it for the no-hassle prep and taste—you can usually just throw it into whatever you're cooking, rather than having to pre-cook and drain it to avoid that spinach-water flavor of most major brands.

Polenta Pancakes

I could go on and on about polenta pancakes. The slight crunch of golden toasted cornmeal on the outside. The creamy sweetness of yellow polenta on the inside. The all-consuming desire to track them down at a local breakfast place. The slightly deranged look on my face when I announced, after getting home from a disheartening encounter with an inexcusably dry and mealy "corn pancake" at a restaurant whose name I have blocked out of my memory due to the trauma of unmet expectations, that FINE then, fine, you know what? We'll just learn how to make them ourselves. What do you say to THAT? (The restaurant, by now severely out of earshot, did not in fact reply. But we showed it. Oh yes.)

Admittedly, our first attempt was dry and mealy. So I can commiserate, I suppose, with the forgotten restaurant's corn-based difficulties (but seriously, shouldn't they have tried more than once before putting it on their menu?). Our second attempt, adapted from this recipe in the New York Times, yielded a true polenta pancake in all its glorious perfection.

 

Ingredients

1 cup coarse-ground corn meal

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/3 cups boiling water

1/2 tbsp chickpea flour
1 1/2 tbsp whole wheat flour (plus extra if needed)

Olive oil (yes, extra virgin as always)

1-2 oz pastured whole milk

1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted

a scant 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the cornmeal and salt in a medium bowl and add the boiling water. Whisk immediately to combine and let sit for 10 minutes to allow the cornmeal to soften and absorb most of the water. Stir in the flours halfway through.

Slowly stir in the milk with a wooden spoon until the batter is "spreadable but still thick," as it says in the original recipe. (You can add another 1/2 tbsp whole wheat flour if needed to keep it from getting too thin.) Stir in 2 tbsp olive oil, the vanilla, and the toasted pine nuts.

Heat a nonstick skillet or frying pan over medium heat. When very hot, brush quickly with olive oil (you want a thin layer along the bottom) and then pour in the batter in 1/4 or 1/3 cup scoops. The scoops should spread out slowly in the pan -- if they don't spread, add a tbsp more milk to the remaining batter, and if they spread out quickly and get too thin, add a little more flour.

Cook for 2-3 minutes until the edges look dry and the bottoms have turned a lovely medium golden brown. Flip carefully, and cook another couple minutes until both sides are golden. Keep the pancakes warm as you cook the next batch (either on a plate on the stove under foil or in the oven). Try not to stack the pancakes too high on the plate, since they'll start to stick together.

Serve with a little butter and maple syrup, or raspberry jam, or blackberries, or whatever else strikes your fancy over the top.

Serves 2-3.

Black-Eyed Peas and Polenta

I suspect this would be even better with home-soaked beans (update: it totally is), but it worked just fine with canned and made for a lovely, hearty, comfort-foodish sort of meal.

We served them over polenta (you could substitute rice), and paired it with a mixture of turnip greens (left over from our yellow turnips earlier this week) and some gorgeous young collard greens from our co-op, using this recipe.

Ingredients
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 strip pastured smoked bacon, sliced crosswise into strips
1 Anaheim chili, chopped
1 jalapeno, minced
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 cans Eden Organic black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed (or sub 1 cup dried black-eyed peas, soaked overnight in 4 cups water, then rinsed and drained)
1-2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup or more veggie broth
Salt and pepper
                                                            Small handful flat leaf parsley, chopped

Heat a little olive oil in a pot over medium heat, then add onion and saute for about three minutes. Push to the side of the pan, add the bacon, and allow to brown on one side (stirring the onion on its own side from time to time, as well). Mix together, add the peppers, and continue to cook until the onion is soft and golden. Stir in the garlic and cook for a minute more, stirring, then add the black-eyed peas and saute for 2-3 minutes more. Add the tomatoes, then the veggie broth (enough so that you can see it at the level of the beans). Cover partially, and let simmer for 10 minutes or until liquid is mostly evaporated, stirring occasionally (if you're using soaked dried beans, simmer for 25-40 minutes until beans are tender, and add a little water if it starts to get dry since the beans will absorb more of the liquid).

Uncover, season with salt, black pepper, and parsley to taste, and serve.

Serves 3-4.

Toasted Polenta Addendum: Black Beans with Cilantro

If you were thinking of trying something like this recipe from a couple weeks ago, these black beans are a perfect addition.

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 can Eden Organic black beans, mostly but not completely drained
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 small sweet pepper, chopped, or a more spicy pepper, minced
A pinch or two of ground cumin
Salt & pepper
A handful of fresh cilantro, chopped, plus a few extra leaves for garnish

Saute the onion in some olive oil over medium-high heat until it begins to soften. Turn heat down to medium, add the pepper, and saute until soft. Add the garlic, saute for another minute, then stir in the black beans. Bring to a simmer, turn heat down a little, and cook for three or four minutes, stirring occasionally (you can put a lid on the pan if it looks like it might start to dry out). Add a dash of cumin, a little salt (Eden Organic beans don't have salt, so you'll have to add a couple pinches...other brands often have lots of salt, so check before you add any more), a little pepper, and the chopped cilantro. Stir, and serve over the polenta before topping with the cheese, tomatoes, and avocado. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Toasted polenta topped with black beans, green heirloom tomatoes,
avocado, and pepper jack, served "to go" in a tiffin

Toasted Polenta with Tomato and Avocado

The husband had his wisdom teeth out today, which meant the plan for open-faced sandwiches had to morph into something more soft and smushy. So voila: A recipe for the puffy-cheeked that doesn't involve canned soup. And best of all, it was delicious enough that we'd make it again, even on a day without dental trauma.

Ingredients
1 cup organic polenta/coarsely ground cornmeal
2 cups water
1/4 cup milk (optional)
1/3 cup grated pepper jack (or substitute Monterey Jack or cheddar)*
1-2 ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced (or just diced, if you're not post-dentist)
1 avocado, diced

Heat some water in a teapot. Meanwhile, place a smallish pot over medium-high heat. Add polenta and toast, stirring or tossing from time to time, for a minute. Push to the side of the pot, drizzle in a little olive oil, and stir to coat the grains. Adjust heat to medium. Continue toasting and stirring until polenta is fragrant and just starting to turn golden.

Add two cups of hot water to the polenta and stir, breaking up any clumps. Add the milk and a pinch of salt, bring to a simmer, and cook gently, stirring, for 2 minutes or until it thickens to just a little wetter than the desired consistency. Cover, remove from heat, and let sit for a minute.

Serve into bowls, sprinkle with cheese, and top with tomato and avocado.

Serves 2.

*If you live in northern California, Petaluma Creamery's pepper jack is creamier and pepperier than any other we've tasted and comes from local pastured cows (as does anything from Spring Hill Cheese Company). It's also somehow ridiculously inexpensive despite all that.

Update: See also this variation.