Two things I am really crazy about are polenta and eggplant, so why not combine them. I searched Google for recipes with “eggplant” and “polenta” and came up with one from NYT Cooking. If you recall from some previous posts, we had some butternut squash left over so I decided to make the recipe but add some mashed roasted butternut squash to the polenta.
First, I start by roasting the butternut squash in the oven.
Next I mashed the roasted squash.
The NYT recipe suggested brushing eggplant slices with olive oil then placing under the broiler, which I did.
Here is the rest of the recipe.
| Author: Jim Kirkley from NYT Cooking
Serves: 2 |
Polenta With Tomato-Eggplant Sauce |
INGREDIENTS
2 cups, butternut squash -peeled and cubed
1 1/2 pounds, eggplant
2 tablespoons, olive oil
2 cloves, garlic
1/8 teaspoon, red pepper flakes
1 can, diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon, red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon, sugar
1/2 cup, cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon, salt
2 cups, chicken stock – divided
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons, butter
2 ounces, Parmesan cheese
METHOD
- Heat oven to 400 degrees F
- Place squash on a sheet pan over non-stick foil. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Toss.
- Place squash in oven and bake for 30 minutes. Turn off oven.
- Remove squash from oven. Let cool then mash with a potato masher.
- Turn on the broiler in your stove.
- Wash, trim and slice eggplant lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick pieces. Brush with four teaspoons of the oil.
- Broil the eggplant until it begins to brown on both sides. Set aside.
- Mince garlic, and saute in the remaining two teaspoons of hot oil in a saucepan with hot-pepper flakes for 30 seconds.
- Crush tomatoes with your fingers and add them in the pan with vinegar and sugar. Reduce heat and simmer, pausing to smash down the tomatoes, until the rest of the meal is complete.
- Add corn meal to 1/2 cup chicken stock and stir to combine.
- In a separate high-sided pot, bring remaining chicken stock to a boil and whisk in corn meal mixture. Reduce heat, cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally.
- Cut the skin from eggplant and cut into 1/2-inch chunks. Add to tomatoes.
- Season the polenta with salt and pepper. Add butter.
- Mix the mashed butternut squash into the polenta.
- Meanwhile, coarsely grate the cheese.
- Spoon polenta onto two dinner plates; top with tomato-eggplant sauce, and sprinkle with cheese.
Sounds delicious! Do you serve the butternut squash mash on the side?
When I make the polenta with the butternut squash, I add the mashed squash to the polenta right at the end. I realize I did not make this clear in the recipe, so I have added this step.
Great – thought that might be the case! Now just need to find polenta in Barcelona š
Here in the US I just use plain old cornmeal, works great.
The only type I have found here is veryyyy fine, but I’m sure a coarser grain is out there!
Our cornmeal is about the size of beach sand. The stuff they sell as polenta is a bit coarser.