Whenever I remember polenta exists, I always feel badly I don’t cook with it more. The problem is it’s never as top of mind (or pantry) as rice or pasta, and when I’m thinking of healthy grains my mind goes straight to barely of quinoa so grits are really lost in the middle. But for whatever reason this week I had such a craving for polenta. Maybe because the weather has been so cold or maybe because I had a lot of leftover arugula pesto and a fridge full of tomatoes and herbs and somehow it just all came together.
This recipe is well suited to variations (don’t have boiler onions? Use large red onions very roughly chopped. Swap in mushrooms of your choice. Add winter root vegetables like turnips or parsnips. Swap the arugula for another leafy green. Use the herbs you have on hand.) but I recommend keeping the slow roasted tomatoes as they are the true stars!
Vegan Herby Polenta with Arugula Pesto and Roast Vegetables
Ingredients
For the Roast Vegetables
- 14 oz cherry or grape tomatos
- 12 oz cipollini or boiler onions
- 1 lb shitake mushrooms
- 4-6 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
For the Pesto
- 2 cup arugula or sub another leafy green of your choice. Spinach and kale work well.
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp lemon juice from about half a lemon – save the rest for serving
- salt and pepper to taste
For the Herby Polenta
- 3 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 cup plant-based milk optional – you can replace this with water so you have 4 cups total boiling liquid but it will be less creamy without it.
- 1 cup polenta also known as corn grits
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp unsalted plant-based butter
- 1/2 cup plant-based parmesan Violife and Whole Foods both carry a variety that work well
- 1 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 cup roughly chopped herbs Use what you have on hand. I used a combination of cilantro, parsley, and chives.
- 1/2 lemon zest and juice to serve
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Peel the onions by trimming the top and dropping them in a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove from the water, rinse to cool, then peel the outer layer of skin. While the onions are cooling, you can wash and slice the mushrooms into thick slices, about the width of your thumb.
- First, roast the vegetables. Place the tomatoes, whole peeled onions, mushrooms, and whole garlic cloves on a parchment lined baking tray and drizzle with the olive oil, salt, and pepper, and toss to evenly coat all the vegetables.
- Place the vegetables in the oven for one hour. You want the tomatoes to be blistered and wrinkled but still hold some shape.
- While the vegetables are roasting, make the arugula pesto by combining all of the pesto ingredients in a food processor and pulsing until completely combined. It will still have some texture but you shouldn't have unchopped pieces of greens or nuts.
- When you have about 15-20 minutes left for the vegetables, you can start the polenta. Bring the water and plant milk to a low boil in a pot for which you have a lid then pour in the cup of polenta, stirring with a whisk as you do to avoid clumping. Add the baking soda and salt, and stir well. Cover the pot, turn the heat to the lowest setting, and let cook for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 to make sure the polenta doesn't stick.
- After 15 minutes, add the plant butter, vegan parmesan, and nutritional yeast and stir until completely combined, another minute or two. Then remove the pot from the heat, and stir in the herbs.
- Serve the dish by spooning a generous helping of polenta, then the pesto, then topped with the roast veggies. Add some lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice of the top to serve!