
This recipe makes enough for 3 people and it takes about 45 minutes to make + 30 minutes of waiting in between*. It’s a plant-based/vegan dish.
So here is the promised recipe for this awesome holiday dish! Polenta slices on grilled veggies and mushrooms! It’s a great main dish besides for example a creamy tomato soup as a starter and a fruit parfait for dessert. I spontaneously came up with this recipe idea in the car on the way home from the forest, and it turned out so good! I just had to share it with you all!
Ingredients:
- Cheesy Polenta slices:
- ½ yellow onion, diced
- 1-2 cloves of garlic, diced
- 2 tbsp plant-based margarine/oil
- 1 tsp (dried) rosemary
- 4 allspice kernels
- 4 cloves
- ⅔ tsp black pepper
- ⅔ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp raw cane sugar.
- 600ml vegetable stock (I used 2 tsp stock powder + 600ml boiling water)
- 30-40g vegan cheese, grated (I used “Violife – Mediterranean Block”) (optional)*
- 150g Polenta
- 4 tbsp nutritional yeast (or 8 tbsp if you leave out the cheese)
- Other components:
- 6 tbsp sunflower seeds
- 2 red bell peppers
- 1 medium zucchini
- 300g button mushrooms, sliced
- ½ yellow onion, diced
- 1 tbsp olive oil (optional)*
- 225g dry (legume) pasta (optional)*
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp (hemp) oil*
- 2 tbsp of fresh/frozen (mixed) green herbs of choice, I used an Italian mix
- Salt, pepper, garlic powder
- 2 tomatoes, sliced
- 75g rocket
- Optionally some sprouts for topping
Cheesy polenta slices:
Chop the yellow onion and garlic. Add the garlic and half of the onion to a small pan together with the margarine/oil. In a mortar & pestle ground: dried Rosemary, allspice, cloves, black pepper, cumin, raw cane sugar. Add this also to the pan and stir, sauté until golden.
Meanwhile bring the vegetable stock to a boil. Grate the vegan cheese and set aside. When the stock is boiling, take it from the stove and slowly add in the polenta while whisking. Then also add the sauteed onion mix, the grated cheese and the nutritional yeast. Put it back on the stove and cook on low heat for about 7-10 minutes while whisking/stirring. Keep stirring in one direction to help prevent lumps from forming.
Take a large casserole dish or deep oven tray, oil it slightly and spread out the polenta mixture in it until about 1,5-2 cm thick. Set aside to cool and harden for at least 30 minutes. Then you can cut it in to any desired shape (or use cookie cutters in nice shapes). Then take out and fry the slices until golden in a dry pan, since they are already oiled from the dish/tray.
The other dish components:
Carefully roast the sunflower seeds in a dry pan and set aside (they burn easily).
Clean and slice the bell pepper in thick slices of about 1,5-2 cm, the zucchini in long thin slices of max. 0,5 cm thick, and the mushrooms also in thin slices of about 0,5 cm thick. Grill the slices of red bell pepper and zucchini in a (cast iron) skillet or grilling pan. Fry the mushrooms with the onion in a separate pan. Use eventually a little olive oil and a little salt and pepper on the vegetables and mushrooms.
Cook the (legume) pasta if you like, according to the instructions on the package.
Stir together a vinaigrette of: lemon juice, (hemp) oil, a little salt, pepper, garlic powder and the green herbs of choice.
Wash and slice a tomato in half slices.
Assembling:
Layer the plates with rocket & tomato slices, add the pasta & sprinkle half of the vinaigrette over the plates with pasta. Top with grilled mushrooms and vegetables. Sprinkle with the left-over vinaigrette. Place Polenta slices on top & sprinkle with sunflower seeds and sprouts if you like.
Enjoy! Let me know if you liked it and tag me if you post your recreations on social media!
Notes*:
- You can cook and prepare the polenta also the day before and then just take the slices out of the tray and fry at the same time with the vegetables and mushrooms. This way you don’t have to wait for 30 minutes while preparing your dinner.
- You can use a different vegan cheese or leave just leave it out. And replace it by adding another 4 tbsp of nutritional yeast (so 8 tbsp in total).
- Use a little (refined) olive oil that is suitable for frying if you use a skillet or pan without a non-stick coating. If you want to reduce the oil you use, you can leave it out and opt for a non-stick coated pan for frying.
- If you choose for a more filling meal, add (legume) pasta. Legume pasta like lentil or chickpea pasta would be the preferred option since the legumes together with the corn of the polenta will complement each other perfectly in their protein profiles.
- Hemp, walnut and flax oils are rich in good omega-3 fatty acids and therefore a good option for cold use like in vinaigrettes.
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