Vegan Holiday Cooking Demonstration

On Sunday I gave a holiday cooking demonstration for the Northern Connecticut Vegetarian Society  featuring quick and easy hors d'ouevres made from polenta.  The recipes are gluten-free, vegan, and delicious.

Sliced polenta can be grilled or baked in the oven, then used as a base for canapes.  Alternatively, you can spread the polenta in a pizza pan for a gluten-free crust and bake it in the oven topped with sauce and Daiya cheese.  You can also use it layered in place of noodles for your favorite lasagna recipe.

I used it three ways topping the polenta wedges with Pumpkin Seed Pesto and Roasted Red Pepper Coulis and diced red pepper, as a tart with pumpkin seed pesto and grape tomato halves, and in a pesto lasagna.  Perfectly festive for Christmas.  Dig in!

Pretty produce

I stopped by my local independent grocery store, The Whitneyville Market, this morning to hang a flyer and caught a glimpse of these pretty little tomatoes and weird looking pepper on the produce shelf.  I couldn't resist, so I brought a couple home with me and vowed to create something with them for lunch.

I decided a simple stack alternating veggies and polenta topped by sauteed spinach would make a nice light meal.  I sliced a few tomatoes and chopped up a nice fat clove of garlic for the sautee.  Then I stacked the polenta and tomatoes and popped them in the microwave for 2 minutes while I wilted the spinach. 

Once the timer rang, the spinach was ready, and I assembled my stacks, garnishing with a few twists of the pepper mill.  In less than 15 minutes, my farm fresh lunch was ready to be enjoyed!

Polenta

Whenever it gets cold and rainy, I tend to crave comfort food. This week, it was polenta. So I decided to create a dish with a Mediterrannean feel because, well, that's where I wish I was on this cold and rainy day.

I love those convenient tubes of polenta that you simply slice into rounds, bake and serve beneath a hearty sauce in place of the standard pasta. It's the perfect alternative if you're gluten-intolerant since it's made with corn instead of wheat. I like the creaminess, too.

On the Menu:

Mediterrannean Kale with Cannelini Beans and Sundried Tomato Marinara on Baked Polenta

Oven-baked Polenta with Portobella Mushroom Sauce, Wild Rice and Zucchini Spears

This morning I was in the mood for mushrooms. Not just any mushrooms, but big, juicy portobellas. So I decided to recreate a dish inspired by a meal I had eaten at the Shoreline Diner in Guilford this summer.

One of the things I love most about my business is being able to experiment with food and sharing the end results with my clients. Today's entree is a typical example. I wanted a rich, hearty sauce that would complement the mushrooms and sit atop toasty polenta rounds without getting them too mushy. For a pleasing color contrast to the reddish brown sauce, I decided to do half moons of zucchini cut at a sharp angle, then sauteed lightly in olive oil and garlic with just a few sprinkles of sea salt to bring out the sweetness. A couple zings of fresh chopped parsley perked everything up just right. And since it's fall, I had to do some wild rice to emphasize the earthiness of the dish. I must say, this was divine.