Polenta Lasagna with Creamy Marinara Sauce

This one gets me the "gourmet quality" award from my sole taster.

I made more than necessary for two persons because I knew I could play with each of the following ingredients in different ways, separate from one another. For instance, the roasted vegetables filling can easily be made into an omelet.

For the Polenta:
(8x8 baking pan)

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped rosemary
• Sea salt and black pepper to taste

1. Bring water to boiling. Stir in cornmeal and keep whisking until cooked and thick. Add rosemary, salt and pepper to taste.
2. Line a 8x8 baking pan with aluminum foil. Pour polenta over. Let cool and chill for at least 1 hour.
   

For the filling:

• 1 eggplant
  
• 1 red bell pepper
  
• mushroom, chopped
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 1 Tablespoon basil leaves, chopped
• 1 tablespoon oregano, chopped
• 4 oz mozzarella cheese
• Shaved Parmesan cheese for topping
  

Preheat oven to 200C. With the eggplant, use a fork to punch a few holes throughout and bake until the skin is charred and flesh is soft (about 45 minutes). Cut roasted eggplant into halves and scoop out the flesh from the skin. Chop coarsely.


With the red bell pepper, turning and roasting until the skin is charred. Peel off the skin once it's cool. Remove the seeds and chop coarsely.

Saute onions, garlic and mushroom with 1 tablespoon of butter and a generous pinch of salt. Stir to coat evenly. Add water, cover and cook until onions are soft. Uncover and cook until water evaporates. Remove from heat. Stir in eggplant, red bell pepper, basil, oregano and mozzarella cheese.

For the Marinara Sauce:

I twisted and combined two marinara sauce recipes into one. You may skip the cream cheese - it's good though. I didn't bother to puree the mixture - it's kind of good in its chunky, rough way.

While I was searching through the fridge for ingredients, the container where this Ethiopian spice-mix has been resting in for more than 6 months stared right into my eyes. I took a sniff at it - smelled good to me - and decided to use it in place of chillies flakes. Hey! It worked! I can now declare it "keep well in refrigeration for more than 6 months."

Once again, I'm showing my unrelenting effort in making homemade crushed tomatoes. Feel free to ignore my stubbornness. The tomatoes tasted better this time. Lucky strike!

• 2 large ripe tomatoes
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon Ethiopian spice-mix (or chillies flakes)
  
• 2 Tablespoons basil, chopped
• 2 oz cream cheese, cubed
• sea salt to taste

1. Bring a pot of water to boil. Throw in tomatoes and cook until the skins break. Remove and let cool under running water (or cold water). Peel the skins and cut into quarters. Mash roughly. Set aside.
   
2. Saute onions and garlic with spice until fragrant (watch out for browning). Add crushed tomatoes. Cook until boiling.
3. Stir in basil and cream cheese to blend.
   
4. Taste and season with salt if necessary.
   

To assemble:

Preheat oven at 180C. Cut polenta into sizes that best fit your baking pan. Layer in this sequence (from the bottom): sauce, polenta, filling, sauce, polenta, filling..... End with sauce and top with shaved Parmesan cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover, reduce the temperature to 150. Bake for another 10 minutes. Allow it to cool before serving.

Maple Grilled Tempeh and Cheddar Corn Polenta

A student-cum-friend of ours, Aaron Goodman, offered us a free cooking lesson with Bangkok Marriot Resort and Spa. The highlight of the event was it was done on the resort boat. Also, this is Aaron's video project with Associated Press, which means you will see Adrian and I dressed in Marriot's aprons in some TV news report very soon! It's 6 and a half minutes of "weight-loss cooking" on the boat aired in more than 20 countries! We are going to be household famous! Woo hoo~

Before we went on the boat, the hotel PR manager and chef took us for a detour at the local market near Saphan Taksin.

Our first stop was at a store where they make fresh coconut milk with machine as pictured. The chef said this is much better than those sold at the supermarket. I bet. On the right is white dessicated coconut, used for dessert. There is also dessicated coconut made with coconut skin, which is more commonly used for curry.


The same store also sells a variety of chili paste made from shrimp, anchovies, etc. You can pick them based on your preferred degree of spiciness.

This lady sells fresh handmade spring-roll sheets. Her skill and ease was fascinating to watch.


Here you see Aaron shooting the man at shrimp shop and a family of beggars patronizing the wet market.


Back on the boat: our chefs showed and cooked for us 5 Thai dishes made the "healthy" way: Pomela Salad with Tamarind Sauce instead of fish sauce; Sour Fish Soup made with vegetable stock instead of chicken stock, and the taste was brought out using tomatoes and pineapples; Banana Buds Salad with shredded Pork; Grilled skinless Salmon served with Thai Chili paste; and Baked Eggplant with Grilled Chicken Breast. Good thing no one made us eat the meats.

We hardly did anything but watched and enjoyed the view as the boat cruise along Chao Praya river. The only thing required of us was to sample the foods and shared our insight into healthy Thai cooking through TV interview. I hope we said the right thing. It was quite an experience for us on a weekday morning for an otherwise 2800THB experience. We live a blessed life :)

Now it takes us back to what I cooked for dinner. After the cooking cruise, we headed straight to the Tops Market at Wong Wian Yai for a quick grocery shopping. I didn't have a shopping list as I usually do. Therefore I picked a few "safe" ingredients that I could play with given what's available back home: I was thinking of polenta and tempeh (again). Having what I wanted as main in mind, I chose asparagus and red bell pepper as side. It really doesn't take much to make a good meal.

Having had tempeh for three meals in two days, I still crave it. Especially with the maple marinate. Adrian was perplexed by the intricate taste: he liked the sweetness that came with a lingering fatty after taste. He asked how much would a plate of this cost. Hmmm... it probably won't go any higher than 100THB (I was thinking somewhere between 50 - 60THB but then I never keep track of food prices). How much would restaurant charge? I'll probably charge 400THB with a nicer looking plate and cutlery, with a napkin, too. Although it is quite laborious to make, most of the steps can be prepared in advance, and in excess for future use. Once prepared, they are ready to go in a jiffy.

Ingredients:

(serve 2)
Cheddar Corn Polenta

This was made based on this and this recipe. Instead of serving the chili-roasted mushroom on the side, I decided to mix them into the polenta to broil. I also added some left over maple syrup-roasted cherry tomatoes from Open-Faced Polenta Tempeh Sandwich. The key in keeping the polenta in shape is "patient". You want it to cool to firm after broiling, before cutting into serving size.
Sauce and Dressing

I had a small bunch of rocket leaves and a handful of parsley that were calling out for use before they wilted for good. I chopped them up with a deseeded orange chili pepper, garlic and pine nuts, as I usually do with pesto except there wasn't Parmesan in it - a small pinch of sea salt adjusted the taste just fine. This pesto went well with the left over Garlic Mayo Spread from yesterday.

Maple-Grilled Tempeh

• Tempeh, cut into strips
• 3 Tablespoons Chili oil (or olive oil)
• 1 glove garlic, smashed and chopped
  
• 3 soy sauce
• 1 Teaspoon Brown rice vinegar (or balsamic vinegar/ rice wine vinegar)
• 3 Tablespoons organic maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Combine everything, except tempeh, together in a small bowl. Place tempeh to a baking dish in one even layer. Pour maple marinate over to cover top and bottom of tempeh. Let it sit in refrigerator for at least two hours, or up to two days.
2. Coat and heat a frying pan with just enough butter. Fry tempeh on both sides until browned.
3. Pour in remaining marinate and let it simmer over low heat. Remove when marinate has thickened.

Open-Faced Polenta Tempeh Sandwich

On the day I was due to come back from KL, Adrian text me and asked if I had any request for breakfast. Having sent him home with tempeh and organic polenta from Country Farm Organics, I replied with "tempeh and avocado sandwich with polenta instead of bread" enthusiastically. I wondered if I should tell him about marinating the tempeh and preparing the polenta in advance?

While we were on the way back from airport, Adrian told me he bought a bunch of stuffs and he didn't know what to do with my request. Ahhhh..... It is actually a synergy of two recipes that I posted before:

1. I used the marinate from this TLT sandwich for the tempeh, and served mashed avocado on the side instead of as spread.
   
2. The polenta was made fries-like using this recipe. The Garlic Mayo Spread was excellent as dressing.
   

So there you go: An open-faced Polenta Tempeh Sandwich! The original TLT Sandwich recipe was the reason I fell in love with tempeh. Therefore my liking of this dish might have been skewed. Also, my eldest sister, Shiang Ting, once mentioned her lack of confidence for Adrian's food taste because he always has good words for the foods I cook. Make this and judge for yourself. Adrian and I will definitely be happy to have this for breakfast again and again :)

Spicy Polenta Roasted Vegetable Pesto Terrine

Ingredients:
(makes 2 servings)

• 1/2 cup organic polenta
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• pinch of sea salt
• 1/2 cup Parmesan, grated
• Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• Fresh thyme and oregano, minced
  
• Roasted vegetable pesto
• 1/2 cup goat cheese, grated

1. Grease baking dish. Preheat broiler at 180C.
   
2. Bring water, milk and sea salt to boil. Stir in polenta to cook. Remove from heat wheng liquid is fully absorbed.
   
3. Add Parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes and herbs. Stir to combine well.
4. Pour half the cooked polenta to the prepared baking dish. Smooth out to a even layer. Let cool slightly. (if you are going to make bake egg, bake the cooked polenta now.)
   
5. Top the bottom layer with pesto and grated goat cheese. Cover with the other half of cooked polenta. (or eggs) Smooth out and let cool.
   
6. Lightly brush the surface with olive oil. Broil for 10 minutes or until the top turns golden brown. (Broil until the eggs are cooked to desired consistency.)
   
7. Cut into individual serving sizes to serve.
   

Corn Polenta and Broccoli Cheddar Bake

This recipe is the synergy of Cheesy Cheddar Corn Polenta and Twice Baked Potato with Broccoli and Cheddar. It didn't take me much time to whip it up since I was using leftover polenta from the Cheesy Cheddar Corn Polenta.

I started with broiling the polenta. As it broiled, I cooked the broccoli as I did with Twice Baked Potato with Broccoli and Cheddar. To make this more breakfast-sy I added an extra step:

• In a separate bowl, lightly beat one egg with one 1 tablespoon of buttermilk (lemon juice + milk). Fold cooked broccoli over egg mixture.

Once the polenta top turned golden in color, I sprinkled it with chopped basil leaves. This was followed by broccoli-egg mixture and grated cheddar cheese. I also added chopped fresh thyme and rosemary, and grated Parmesan over the top.

Cheesy Cheddar Corn Polenta

I have to date made savory polenta with Parmesan: Polenta Fries, and Parmesan Polenta with Chili-roasted Mushroom. This time, it's done with sharp Cheddar and corn. The corn niblet give this crispy polenta an interesting texture: crunchy like nuts.

I served this with a side of Camembert and Cranberry Stuffed Mushroom with Pesto. You knew it's good when two hours after the dinner, Adrian said "dinner was really good".

Ingredients:
(makes 1 9x9" pan)

• 4 cups miso soup
  
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• Fresh corn niblet from 1 cob of corn
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  
• 1¼ cup uncooked polenta
  
• 1½ cups old cheddar, grated
• ¼ cup fresh thyme and rosemary, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt

1. Line a 9x9" pan with parchment paper.
2. In a pot, bring stock and cream to a simmer and set aside.
3. In a saucepan, saute onions with butter until soft. Add garlic and corn niblets and cooked until corn is tender. Pour in apple cider vinegar for deglazing.
4. Add the stock and cream mixture to the saucepan and bring to a simmer. In a slow, steady stream, add the cornmeal and cook over medium heat for 1 minute, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Remove from heat and stir in the grated cheddar and fresh herbs. Season with salt, to taste.
5. Pour mixture into pan. Refrigerate overnight or at least 2 hours. Turn out the polenta and cut into desired shapes.
6. Pan fry the pieces in olive oil and a little butter until lightly browned on both sides or broil in the oven until browned.
   

Roasted Tomato Caprese on Parmesan Polenta Fries

I'm not a big fan of caprese but I thought caprese with roasted tomato sounds tasteful. Instead of using pre-made polenta log as the recipe does, I substituted it with a recipe for Parmesan Polenta Fries. I was so proud of how these came out - they were truly delicious! Roasting the tomatoes adds so much flavor, and stacking everything on top of the polenta makes for a beautiful presentation. Not to forget the yummy-licious garlic mayo dip! This is the way Adrian describes it "it reminds me of fast foods - it gives the same kind of guilty pleasure of eating fast food except it's not sinful". That should summarize how delicious this is.

Polenta Crust

• 1/2 cup uncooked polenta
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 cups of milk
• juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup of chopped herb of your choice (I used fresh basil, thyme and oregano)
• salt and pepper
• 2 oz. butter (optional)
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (grated)

1. In a saucepan, bring water and milk to a boil. Stir in polenta and reduce heat to low. Let cook while stirring constantly.
2. Add lemon juice and zest, herbs, butter and Parmesan.
   
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Line a 8x8" baking pan with parchment paper. Layer polenta mixture evenly over the bottom. Let cool for about 5 minutes and transfer to freezer for at least two hours (I left it overnight).

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Take the pan out from the freezer and remove the parchment paper. You can either cut polenta into 1.5" strips (like fries) or into 4 squares (as I did).

1. Lay parchment paper over a baking sheet. Place the polenta strips or squares on the sheet and brush with melted butter.
2. Bake in the oven for about 20-30 minutes or until golden brown, turn once and continue to bake. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with a little salt & pepper.

Garlic Mayo Spread:

• 1/4 c. Japanese mayonnaise
• 1 garlic glove, minced
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• dash of Tabasco sauce and Tonkatsu
  
• salt and pepper
• Herbs (optional. I used spring onion, thyme, oregano and parsley)
  

Mix all ingredients and serve as dipping for fries or spread over Polenta squares as you would for burger or sandwiches.

For the Caprese:

• 1 large roma tomatoes, sliced
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• sea salt and pepper
• 4 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced
  
• 4-5 fresh basil leaves
  

1. Arrange tomato slices in one single layer on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with the garlic, sugar, salt, and pepper. Roast for 1 hour until the tomatoes are concentrated and begin to caramelize. Allow the tomatoes to cool to room temperature.
2. Place polenta squares onto plates. Spread garlic mayo over the top and stack each squares with tomato slices, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves. Serve at room temperature.
   

Parmesan Polenta with Chili-roasted Mushroom

I have been wanting to make this savory polenta since the day I bought the polenta. For some reasons I kept getting sidetracked by the sweet polenta recipes:

• Polenta and Ricotta Cake
• Polenta Lemon Muffins with Homemade Lemon Curd

Anyway here it is. It's better than I thought it would be. Parmesan goes very well with the otherwise bland polenta. I must also credit it to the chili-roasted mushrooms: It started with the inspiration coming from chili-roasted tomatoes that I made last night and the bottle of chili oil that I whisked up months ago for Hummus on Fire. Last but not least: my latest discovery of egg frying trick.

If you don't have cream, use 1 Cup milk to 1 Cup water. I ran out of milk hence the use of cream.

Ingredients:
(2 main servings)

• 1/2 C uncooked organic polenta
• 1/2 C cream
• 1 1/2 C water
• salt and pepper
  
• Mushrooms, cut into bite-sized chunks
  
• Splash of dried chili-infused olive oil
• sea salt and black pepper
• Pinch of paprika
• 1/2 C Parmesan cheese, shaved
• Chives, chopped
  
• 2 Eggs

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Coat chopped mushrooms with chili oil, sea salt, black pepper and paprika. Roast in oven for 15 minutes.
3. In a saucepan, mix together polenta, cream, water, salt and pepper. Bring it to boiling over medium heat, turn to low heat and let cook over cracked lid.
4. In a skillet, heat a tablespoon of butter over medium heat until sizzling. Crack the eggs over. When egg whites set, pour a couple tablespoons of water over and cover with lid. Remove when egg yolks are cooked to desired doneness.
5. Stir Parmesan into cooked polenta and spoon into individual serving plates. Top it with chili roasted mushrooms, fried egg and garnish with chives.
   

Polenta Lemon Muffin with Lemon Curd Filling

I'm totally into polenta since the Polenta and Ricotta Cake. Well, maybe it's not the polenta but the divine fragrance of baked honey..... MmmHmm.... whatever. Got to make good use of the bag of polenta anyway.

The original recipe uses all-purpose flour and a lemon curd recipe that has more steps than necessary. I replaced the flour with 1 cup uncooked polenta + 1/2 C unbleached all-purpose flour and used the Lemon Curd Recipe in one of my earlier posts. Didn't make any changes except I'm using organic sugar instead of natural cane sugar. The color turns out in a pretty yellow instead of the less appetizing brownish hue I had before. The ingredients listed make for 1 cup of lemon curd. You can also double the amount and save the extra for other recipes such as Lemon Curd Bar or use lemon curd as dressing for savory such as Smoked Salmon Quinoa.

For the muffin, if you don't have sour cream (as usual, I make it by mixing 1 TB lemon juice + 1 C cream) you can also use yogurt or buttermilk (I make this with 1TB lemon juice + 1 C milk). Don't expect the muffins to rise as they normally would with flour. You can use reduce polenta and increase flour if you like your muffins to rise more.

Do visit the original recipe - it's food blog by a very artistic duo. They did some fun decoration to their Meyer Lemon Cupcake with stencils: ninja monkey, skull and cross-bones, etc. Me? Just look at my vague attempt at dressing them with ricotta cheese. I'm a gourmand, you know?

Ingredients:

For filling

• 2 small eggs
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1/4 C organic sugar
• 2 TB butter

(makes 1 Cup)

1. Either use a double boiler or place one saucepan over a pan of simmering water (as shown in picture). Whisk together eggs, sugar and lemon juice until thicken.

2. Remove from heat and strain through a mesh. Stir in butter to melt. Add lemon zest and let cool slightly. The curd will thicken. Immediately cover to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate and move on to cupcake. You can refrigerate this for up to a week.

Lemon Muffins
(makes 6 large muffins)

• 1/2 C unsalted butter
• 1 C uncooked polenta
• 1/2 C unbleached all-purpose flour
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 C sour cream
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 C natural cane sugar
  
• 2 large eggs
• Ricotta cheese (optional)
  

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly grease muffin tray.
   
2. In medium bowl, whisk together polenta, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk sour cream, vanilla, lemon zest and juice.
   
3. In an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light in color. Add eggs one at a time, mixing in between. On low speed, add one third of the polenta mixture, one half of the sour cream mixture, one third of the polenta, the other half of the sour cream, and the rest of the polenta. Basically, alternate dry and wet - and don't overmix.
4. Divide batter evenly among muffin tray. Bake 35 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack.
5. You may either use lemon curd as filling by spooning out the muffin center, or, swirl lemon curd on top as topping. Serve with cream or ricotta cheese.
   

Polenta and Ricotta Cake

It began from the day I bumped into a picture of polenta egg breakfast recipe. It continued with the discussion where to buy organic couscous and polenta in Bangkok, followed by talk of making gluten-free dishes for Contessa's daughter whom has Celiac disease. I took this series of events as a sign to experiment and cook with the yellow cornmeal.

Polenta was originally made with chestnut meal and farro. It was, and remains still, a peasant food. Nowadays it has been given life, with the blend of cheeses and tomatoes, from the essentially bland and common food into the menus in high-end restaurant and supermarket at high price.

You need a baking dish with removable bottom. Otherwise the cake will fall apart when you try to remove it from the dish. I used springform pan. A tip I learned years ago from my very first cheesecake-only recipe book: grease the pan and chilled it until needed. A recent tip I learned from Gordon Ramsey: to be safe, grease the chilled pan again. As a result, the cake pulled away from the edges intact.

This cake surprised me. It's really simple and yet can be classy, with its golden brown color, if you just spend some time to dress it up. I think I'm going to buy a piping tip so I can decorate my future cakes with swirls of pretty cream. The smell of baked honey was god-send: Adrian was wondering when we can eat it when I pulled it out from the oven at 10.30pm last night.I served it with homemade raspberry jam and cream. They compliment the honey-sweet of the cake very well.

You can substitute dried figs with dried apricots. You want them moist and plump. If need be, soak them in hot water, drain and pat dry before adding to the batter.

Ingredients:

• About 6 moist, plump dried figs, chopped into bite-size.
  
• 1 c medium-grain polenta
  
• ½ c all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 c fresh ricotta
  
• 1/3 c tepid water
• ¾ c natural cane sugar
• ¾ c organic honey
  
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 Tablespoon butter, cut into bits and chilled
• 2 large eggs

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 190C.

Lightly grease a 9" springform pan and wrap the bottom with aluminum foil to prevent leakage. Chill in refrigerator until ready to use.

Whisk the polenta, flour, baking powder, and salt together.

Beat the ricotta and water together on low speed until very smooth. With the mixer at medium speed, add the sugar, honey, and lemon zest and beat until light. Beat in the melted butter, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until the mixture is smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are fully incorporated. You’ll have a sleek, smooth, pourable batter.

Pour about one third of the batter into the pan and scatter over the figs. Pour in the rest of the batter, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, if necessary, and dot the batter evenly with the chilled bits of butter.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

The cake should be honey brown and pulling away just a little from the sides of the pan, and the butter will have left light-colored circles in the top. Transfer the cake to a rack and remove the sides of the pan after about 5 minutes. Cool to warm, or cool completely.