Polenta cakes with ratouille

We thawed out some ratatouille the other day (see my recipe from Sept. 22, 2009) and had it served over instant polenta. Then last night I cut the leftover polenta into cakes to serve with the last of the ratatouille.

I know using instant polenta may seem like a bit of a copout, but I was a little short of time. Actually it's very, very good and having it set up while you are stirring it for only 1 minute is a gift.

When I make polenta from scratch I tend to make it fairly loose. That makes it less workable for frying cakes of it.

As you can see in the photo, we served dinner with a tossed salad with a homemade vinaigrette (and a liberal pour of vodka on the rocks).

Polenta cakes

1 cup bread crumbs

1 cup parmesan cheese, grated finely

leftover polenta, cut into cakes
2 egg whites, beaten until a bit frothy

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
chopped parsely, to garnish

Mix the bread crumbs with 1/2 of the parmesan (a little more or less, your choice) in a wide bowl. Dip two sides (opposite each other) of the cakes in the egg whites and let excess drain off. Press the cakes into the bread crumb/parmesan mixture.

Heat the olive oil and butter in a non-stick saute pan. When the butter has melted and the foam subsided, fry the cakes for 4 minutes per side. I put a piece of foil over them and weighted them with a small cutting board to increase contact with the pan.

Take the pan off the heat, leave the foil on, and let the cakes sit for 2 minutes. This is to allow the heat to distribute throughout them.

Serve them as is or with some leftover sauce of somekind (just in case you don't happen to have ratatouille on hand. To save time you certainly could use a jar of your favorite tomato or marinara sauce. Top with the remaining parmesan cheese and some parsley.

Ratatouille

The Finished Product

I did an entirely different take on ratatouille yesterday. Suffice it to say it’s wonderful. 2/3 of it went into our basement “geezer freezer,” and the rest into the fridge to be served with braised pork loin and Israeli couscous tonight.

Given that ratatouille is basically a vegetable stew, I decided that allowed for a certain amount of license in choosing ingredients. We bought a box of slightly damaged Roma tomatoes at our favorite farmers market on Sunday…13 ½ pounds for $8! When I came out into the kitchen wondering what Peter was up to when he didn’t turn up in the sunroom for TV and newspapers first thing yesterday morning, it was to discover him up to his elbows in tomatoes, blanching, peeling, seeding.

I pitched in to help and in about an hour we had conquered them. He spent the rest of the morning making both a basic tomato sauce and a marinara – huge quantities of each. I co-opted a pound of the tomatoes for the ratatouille. The pattypans came from our garden, as did the thyme and oregano.

This recipe takes some time both for prep and cooking in stages. Be patient, it’s worth it.

Ratatouille
2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, rough chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 large carrots, cut in 1/2” rounds
2 1 lb. eggplants, diced to ½”
½ cup (or more as needed) chicken stock
1 green bell pepper, ½” dice
4 palm-sized pattypan squash, ½” dice
2 Anaheim chiles, peeled and seeded and chopped
1 lb. Roma tomatoes, peeled and seeded and chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
salt and pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large non-reactive pot.

Add onion, carrot, garlic and sauté over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Add eggplant and chicken stock and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add tomatoes, stir, and bring to simmer.

Add chiles, pattypan and bell pepper.

Add thyme, oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

Bring to a simmer, stirring to mix thoroughly. Simmer 10 minutes and check for doneness of pattypan. You don’t want it flabby or squishy – rather a bit al dente.

Taste for seasonings and adjust as necessary.

The finished product, again: