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Friday, March 27, 2009

Pesto Glazed Vegetables with Feta Infused Polenta

A tri-colour of sweet peppers form the basis of the vegetables
Pesto glazed, this medley of crisp vegetables
is a delicous accompaniment to any meal

This dish can be served as a a light lunch or side dish
I’ve had a packet of polenta in my grocery cupboard for a while. I’d never eaten it and although I was dying to taste it, I couldn’t work out what would be good with it. Then last week I came across a lovely food blog called "What's for dinner mom?" with just the recipe to test this new [to me] staple.

Polenta is a cornmeal porridge from Northern Italy. Traditionally it is made with water in a large copper pot called the paiolo and stirred with a bastone (a wooden baton) then cooled in a madia - a round wooden tray and cut up into diamond or squares and then served plain with butter and cheese, any of a number of sauces as pasta is and braised or roasted meat. Various ingredients can be added during cooking including cheese, vegetables, ham and truffles. There are two main types of Polenta - fine or coarse- they result in different textures in the finished product.

Under ingredients on my packet it said that the contents were made from fine maize grits. I don’t have all the wonderful Italian cooking utensils but my saucepan worked well. I served it as a starch.

Earlier this week, I made it for John, Debbie and the children and everyone cleaned their plates and asked for more! The polenta is infused with feta at the end of its cooking time and is served with pesto-glazed vegetables.
To quote from the foodie blog: it is peasant food pure and simple.
1 cup water
Salt to taste
1/3 cup medium-grain yellow polenta
1/4 cup feta crumbles
Bring the water which is lightly salted to the boil.
Whisk in the polenta until fully incorporated.
Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Stir occasionally.
When the polenta is almost done, stir in the feta.
Pesto Glazed Vegetables
2 teaspoons olive oil
6 large mushrooms, sliced
1 cup sweet pepper sliced
1/4 of onion sliced but left in rings
2 tablespoons of pesto
Salt and ground black pepper
2 thin slices of parmesan
Heat oil in a wok over medium- high heat
Add the vegetables and saute until tender but crisp left
Add the pesto and stir to glaze the vegetables
Season to taste
Note: This recipes serves 2. Adjust accordingly.

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