Polenta with Roasted Vegetables

I was feeling a little crazy last night and decided to make some polenta. I say crazy because as those of you who've prepared it before know, it can be a little dangerous.

I used Bob's Red Mill polenta and the recipe on the back for Basic Italian Polenta except that I used 1 tbsp olive oil instead of butter and did not add any cheese. And I added some dried oregano, basil and thyme as well as some extra salt and pepper to the mix. Additionally, I cut the recipe size by a third, though I should have cut it by two thirds since there was only two of us. Now I know (and now I have polenta in the fridge).

While my polenta was cooking in the pot (resembling a witch's cauldron), I prepared a few vegetables for roasting:

1 carrot, peeled and cut into quarter-inch rounds
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into quarter-inch cubes (so they'll cook at the same rate as the other vegetables)
A few slices of red bell pepper*
A few slices of yellow onion
A couple of handfuls of broccoli crowns, cut into bite-size portions

I tossed the vegetables in a bowl with about three tablespoons of olive oil, a teaspoon of chopped garlic, a teaspoon of salt, some fresh ground pepper, and a few pinches of dried rosemary, oregano, and basil. I spread the vegetables in a 9 x 13 baking dish and roasted them at 475 degrees for 20 minutes. I then I sauteed some sliced baby portobella mushrooms in olive oil, salt, and pepper on the stove top while waiting on the polenta.

When the polenta finished cooking, I pressed it into a round baking dish to let it set. Had I prepared only what I needed, I would have pressed it into a pie plate, which would have been better for the next step. When it cooled, I cut it into triangles and pan-fried it in olive oil on medium-high heat. I like for my polenta to have a crispy crust. My polenta was a little thicker than I like because I had so much, but it did have a nice crust. It was just a little too polenta-y in the middle for my taste.

Anyhoo--the fun part. As if the bubbling mixture in the pot wasn't scary enough, now it's time to fry this stuff. Polenta will bubble and pop and send little satellites of pure heat in your direction while frying. I suited up with long sleeves and some old gloves for this task, though a couple of stray kernels found their way to my hair (I'm just glad they missed my eyes). But the end result of polenta with a nice, crispy crust makes it all worth it.

When the polenta was done frying, I set it on the plate and topped it with the roasted vegetables and sauteed mushrooms. Viola! A healthy, hearty (and vegan!) meal.

New favorite salad

Don't tell the locavores, but I've got a new favorite salad. I'm still tossing baby greens in O Organic blood orange infused olive oil, but I'm now adding chopped toasted hazlenuts and chunks of organic Gala or McIntosh apples (when available) instead of cheese and tomatoes. I'll also sprinkle on some goat cheese when it's around (I've run out). The apples and the citrus oil are such a good combination. And the organic grains bread from Provence goes well with this salad. It goes well with everything, though.

Now you're cooking with pressure

Many years ago, when I was first out on my own, my mom and I made the rounds at estate and yard sales for miscellaneous kitchen equipment to get me started. At the time, the most she was willing to part with was a dented pan--a relic from her first marriage dented from swatting cockroaches in my parents' first apartment. Needless to say, strangers' cast-offs were more appealing.

One of the things I remember seeing was an old pressure cooker. And my mom quickly warned me off it convincing me I'd never be able to use it properly and would likely kill myself in an explosion. So I've never given it a second thought.

Until I got this month's issue of Sierra Club magazine. Rice in five minutes? Rice that doesn't come in a red box in five minutes??? Yes! And not only is it a huge time-saver, it's an energy-saver (which is, of course why the pressure cooker is being featured in Sierra Magazine). So, now I'm interested in pressure cooking. Because I like rice and I am impatient.

The irony of this being a possible crock-off in the future. The question is, do I come up with some all-day dish to compete with the slow-foodies or be a total spoiler and whip up some pressured risotto or one of these tasty dishes in a matter of minutes to blow everyone away?

Blow everyone away figuratively speaking, of course (I hope).

The New Year in Williamsburg/Virginia Beach

The Significant Other (SO) and I took a road trip to celebrate the beginning of the new year and the birthday of his niece in Williamsburg, Virginia where his brother and sister-in-law (SiL) live. I'll spare you the details of the occasional trip to Subway and Taco Bell and hit only the highlights of the trip.

New Year's Eve was spent dining at Sonoma Wine Bar and Bistro in Virginia Beach. It had an excellent and thoughtful wine list (many wines from Oregon, which are generally very good in my opinion) and a menu with plenty of (what I thought were) vegetarian options. I started with the spinach salad (substituting goat cheese for the bleu cheese) and for dinner had a plate of side dishes including vegetable Israeli couscous, whipped garlic mashed potatoes and pumpkin risotto. Despite asking the server earlier about the vegetarian status of a soup, I was not informed that the pumpkin risotto included ham. The SO enjoyed the pumpkin risotto quite a bit while my focus moved to the Jigsaw Pinot Noir.

Because I'm a native Tennessean, it's imperative that I eat my blackeyed peas and greens on New Year's Day. My mother thinks it's bad enough that I don't eat ham any more, but she'd likely feel the need to pray for me every day if I didn't have the peas and greens on the first day of the year. The SiL, sensitive to my southern and vegetarian needs, prepared a vegetarian version of her family's tradition of blackeyed pea jambalaya just for me. It was quite tasty. A nice fresh salad of romaine lettuce as an accompaniment should ensure that I make some money this year.

On the evening of New Year's Day, the SO wanted some fresh seafood since we were so close to the coast. Side note: a friend visiting Nashville recently from Baltimore noted our lack of seafood restaurants, prompting me to tell her that the local seafood consists of catfish and other river junk that most city folk don't eat regularly. I certainly wouldn't eat anything out of the Cumberland River. It's bad enough that I have to drink from it.

Anyhoo, Williamsburg is a bit of a sleepy, touristy town so most of the seafood restaurants were closed. Instead, we dined at Food for Thought, which turned out to be a great choice. To start us off, the server brought us a bread basket with rolls and sweet potato cornbread. Holy cow, that cornbread was good. There is rarely ever an orphaned sweet potato in my house, so I might just have to hijack one to make this cornbread at home. It was so good. We also got an appetizer of toasted ravioli which was quite good, but had I known that I'd love the cornbread so much, I probably would have skipped the ravioli and saved the space and calories for more bread.

For an entree, I got the vegetarian special, which was whole wheat penne pasta (yay--whole wheat pasta!) with wild mushrooms and artichokes in a chunky tomato cream sauce. It was excellent, but about two-to-three times the amount of food I could eat. Were I a local, I would have gladly boxed up the leftovers for one or two lunches, but sadly, I had to leave it behind.

The SO was sated with some dish of multiple things that once swam (I didn't pay much attention) that he said was also very good. Neither of us had any room for dessert, though I was tempted by the hot apple nachos. I think if I lived in the area, Food for Thought would be a frequent dining spot for me because the food was not only quite tasty, but (as the name implies) thoughtfully selected and prepared. It's not total junk food like a lot of restaurant food tends to be. It's healthy and good. The only downside to the restaurant is the little cards on the table with mind teasers written on them. The SO quickly discovered I'm not as smart as I seem.

The next day, the SO's family headed out for a 1st birthday celebration lunch for the niece by going to the first restaurant she ever ate at (when she was just over a week old), The Trellis in Colonial Williamsburg. I was pleased to see that there was a vegan "garden selection" which consisted (that day) of salad greens with pine nuts and other accoutrements over roasted potatoes. It was quite good and would allow me to have room for their famous (original) Death By Chocolate for dessert. Due to some logistical issues (which are sure to arise during lunch with six and a half diners), I had to get the dessert to go. I ate a few bites that afternoon and can confirm it's as delicious as it sounds. I can't eat very much chocolate and/or sugar at one time, so the remainder of the dessert (after I split it with the SO's mother) is in my refrigerator waiting for me to finish it off. I doubt it will be there much longer.

In sum, if you visit Williamsburg, be sure to visit Food for Thought (conveniently located near Olde Towne and the majority of the chain hotels on Richmond Road) and, if you're a dessert lover, The Trellis (or if you're a vegan travelling with a dessert lover). And if you're in Virginia Beach, check out the new town center area and Sonoma Wine Bar and Bistro (just be sure to ask about the vegetarian status of every choice).

Death by Chocolate

I ate the original Death by Chocolate at The Trellis restaurant in Williamsburg yesterday. Oh, y'all. A vegan selection for lunch and then Death by Chocolate. Definitely the way to spend the second day of the new year. More later about another excellent restaurant in Williamsburg as well, but I'm going to spend the next 10-12 hours on the road back to Nashville, most likely having chain restaurant meals, the highlight of which is probably going to be a Cracker Barrel. Happy New Year to all!