This is the recipe I wrote for the Sunday meal at Rancho La Puerta during my week as visiting chef. Originally, I’d planned on serving the polenta with slender spears of broccolini, but we had a giant box of snow peas and beautiful bok choy fresh from the garden, so Chef Eddy and I changed it up a bit. I love searing squares of this polenta in some hot olive oil, or charring it on the grill as I do here, and serving it with just about anything—an egg and some greens in the morning, a mushroom ragu or tomato sauce at night. It’s super versatile and a great thing to have in the fridge for easy meals throughout the week.
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups water
- 1-1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1-1/2 cups spring onions, finely chopped (or yellow onions)
- 3/4 cup polenta
- sea salt, to taste
- 6 cups snow peas, trimmed and cut on a bias into 1-inch pieces
- 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 recipe Sautéed Sesame Bok Choy
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Combine water and broth in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil.
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium pot over medium-high heat, and sauté onions for 5 minutes, until translucent and just starting to color. Add polenta, and stir to coat the grains.
- Pour in liquid, and whisk constantly until the polenta comes together, about 30 seconds. Whisk in a generous pinch of salt.
- Transfer to the oven, and bake for 40 minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed. Pour into an oiled pan so polenta is roughly 1-1/2 inches thick, and let cool.
- Meanwhile, heat a large pan over medium-high heat, and swirl in remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add snow peas, and toss to coat with olive oil. Cook for 2 minutes, tossing occasionally. Add garlic, red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt, and sauté another 4-6 minutes, until well blistered, but still crisp-tender.
- Heat grill to medium-high. Cut polenta into 2-inch squares, and brush 6 squares lightly with olive oil. (You may have leftover polenta.) Grill over direct heat, flipping once, until well marked on the outside and heated through, about 8-10 minutes total.
- Serve a mound of bok choy on each plate. Top each with a polenta square, and divide snow peas evenly among the plates.
Servings: 6
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