| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 14 hr 10 min |
| Prep: | 50 min |
| Inactive: | 12 hr |
| Cook: | 1 hr 20 min |
| Yield: | 8 to 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 7 to 8 cups water*
- 7 to 8 cups milk*
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for oiling pan, and for sauteing
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 pound coarsely-ground cornmeal
- 2 ounces butter
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
- 1 cup grated Taleggio
- Basil Oil, recipe follows
- Hardwood Smoked Tomato Sauce, recipe follows
- Grilled Vegetables, recipe follows
- 1/2 pound basil, leaves only
- 2 cups olive oil
- 4 cups vegetable oil
- 2 onions, quartered
- 12 Roma tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 head garlic, roasted
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3 bay leaves
- 8 cups canned peeled tomatoes
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 eggplant, cut into rounds
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into 2-inch strips
- 1 green bell pepper, cut into 2-inch strips
- 1 zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch rounds
- 1 yellow squash, cut into 1/2-inch rounds
- 1 red onion, cut into 1/2-inch rounds
- 2 portobello mushrooms, gills removed
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic Fresh herbs, optional
Instructions
- Lightly coat a sheet pan with olive oil and set aside. Bring the water, milk, and olive oil to a boil in a large pot. Add salt and pepper, and then sprinkle in the cornmeal, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon or heavy whisk to avoid lumps. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes, or until the polenta pulls away cleanly from the sides of the pot. Season, to taste, again with salt and pepper. Fold in the butter and Parmesan.
- Turn the polenta onto the prepared sheet pan and smooth it out. Cover it with plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator until it is quite cold, preferably overnight. Using a 4-inch round pastry cutter, cut the cold polenta into 4-inch round cakes. Place the cakes on parchment paper, leaving them covered with plastic wrap until ready to serve.
- Close to serving time, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the skillet, and let the oil heat. Dust the polenta cakes with flour, add them to the pan in batches, and saute until crispy and golden brown. Top each cake with 1 tablespoon Taleggio, and place under the broiler until cheese is melted and a little browned on top. Serve the polenta cakes with basil oil, smoked tomato sauce, and grilled vegetables, layering like free-form lasagna as desired.
- Blanch the basil for 3 to 5 seconds in a large pot of boiling salted water. Using a spider or a slotted spoon, immediately plunge the basil into a bowl of ice water to retain its bright green color. Gently squeeze the basil to remove as much excess water as possible.
- Put the basil in a food processor or blender. Add both oils, and puree until smooth. Put the pesto in an airtight container, and refrigerate it overnight. Then pour off the excess oil that has settled on top. Pour pesto into squirt bottles for easier service.
- Smoke the onions and fresh tomatoes in a smoker under mesquite chips. Remove from smoker, and set the tomatoes aside. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the smoked onions and garlic to the pan, and saute until tender and very fragrant. Add the oregano and bay leaves and cook for 1 more minute, or until fragrant. Add the smoked tomatoes and the canned tomatoes, and bring mixture to a boil. Add the white wine and basil, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes. Using an immersion blender, puree the sauce until smooth. Then add the sugar, and simmer for another 10 to 12 minutes. Strain sauce through a medium-sized mesh sieve. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Preheat a grill, or heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. In a large bowl, toss all of the sliced vegetables with the olive oil. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Add the garlic and fresh herbs, if using, and toss all together. Grill the vegetables until they are tender yet still slightly crisp.
Reviews
Incredible!
I saw this on $40 a day and was happy to see the recipe available. I made it as the recipe suggested. I don’t own a smoker but was able to get directions on how to smoke veggies in the stove top, err…oven. They said to use to stove top, after breaking a 13×9 baking stone, I decided to go with my first instinct and put the contraption in oven. Aside from that misstep, it was a fairly straightforward recipe. I added way more salt and garlic than the sauce recipe called for but I have an addiction to garlic and salt so I can’t speak for the masses in that regard. I saw prep time as 1 1/2 hours, I don’t know if that requires the preparer to be an octopus or a professional chef, but I am neither, so I made the sauce one day, the polenta the next, and the grilled veggies the night of. It is just my husband and I, and it makes A LOT, so most of the sauce is in the freezer, which will be nice when I make it next, as the sauce takes the longest.
I did this the very quick way, made simpler marinara and bought already prepared polenta at store. Used fontina cheese because couldn’t get other. Anyway, it was gourmet and keeping this one, especially making it simpler helps me actually want to make it again.
In general this was a very novel and impressive recipe. I made a more basic marinara instead of their roasted sauce and had to cook the polenta alot longer than it recommends. I would suggest preparing the polenta the day before and just broiling it in the oven the day of- all 3 components in one day was very time consuming. I would definitely make this again, but prepare the sauce one day, the polenta another, and the veggies the day of.