Parmesan Polenta Rounds with "Hearty" Salad

For dinner tonight I used some of my mothers favorite ingredients (polenta, hearts of Palm and artichokes) especially those that you don't get in India easily. We had both done some heavy feasting on the weekend, so this also made for nice quick and light meal.

I had only eaten polenta in restaurants and did a search to find out more. My search revealed that the ready made kind you get in a tube is a lot inferior to the home made kind. This was my first try, so I thought I would experiment with the ready made kind and then later could do a comparison with the home made kind. To go with the polenta I made a "Hearty" salad where I tossed hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, oranges and olives with salt, pepper and olive oil.

The polenta was delicious and I am hooked! It was crisp and parmesany on the top and the bottom part was nice and plump. The "Hearty" salad was surprisingly delicious, considering I didn't do much. I was a bit wary when my mother stood by the kitchen counter and peeled an orange and tossed half of it in the salad! But it worked and it was one of those dishes, where you can focus on the yumminess of each ingredient and one that I kept eating, and each bite was different, one salty, one sweet till it was gone and I wanted more! Plus the polenta and salad complemented each other I thought. I will make both the polenta and this salad again, and they look pretty together too!
















Ingredients (Parmesan Polenta Rounds)

A tube of ready made polenta
About a 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly crushed pepper
Dried basil
Olive oil for greasing baking dish

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease baking dish. Slice polenta into about a 1/4 of inch round slices. Place in baking dish. Place about a teaspoon of Parmesan cheese on each round. Sprinkle each round with a pinch of dried basil. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for about 10 minutes. Eat hot!
















Ingredients and Method ("Hearty Salad)

Toss equal portions of bite sized pieces of hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, diced tomatoes. I used hearts of palm from a jar and canned artichoke hearts. Add a handful of sliced olives and half an orange peeled and broken into segments. Toss altogether with a teaspoon of olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Enjoy!

I came across Beautiful Bones: An Osteoporosis Food Event hosted by Food Blogga and wanted to participate. http://foodblogga.blogspot.com/2008/04/beautiful-bones-osteoporosis-food-event.html. On her site I saw that quite a few of the ingredients I was going to use for dinner tonight were calcium rich, such as Polenta, Parmesan Cheese, Artichokes, Tomatoes and Oranges! So I am sending this over.