To heighten the flavor of organic polenta and offer a quick and easy dish packed with freshness, take advantage of summer produce and put them all into this for lunch or dinner.
Hearty enough to stand alone as a meal in itself, the fresh sweet corn, red bell peppers, toasted pine nuts, olive oil, basil and ghee combine to satisfy the most discriminating of vegetarian palates.
Wise Tip: When cutting the kernels off of a fresh ear of corn, try placing a small bowl upside down inside a large mixing bowl. Break the corn cob in two and place the flat side of each piece of corn cob on top of the small bowl and saw off the kernels from top to bottom with a sharp knife. This tip comes from Rachael Ray and it works to prevent the kernels from flying all over the place when sliced away from the cob on the flat surface of a cutting board.
Fresh Corn Polenta
Ingredients
- 1 cup organic polenta
- Half of a large red bell pepper
- 2 ears of sweet corn
- 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 cups water
- A handful of fresh basil leaves
- A handful of pine nuts
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ghee or clarified butter
Procedures
- Cut the corn kernels from the cobs (see 'wise tip' for cutting fresh corn above), slice the red bell pepper into spears and heat the olive oil in a medium or large sauce pan.
- Start sauteing the corn and bell pepper spears in the olive oil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Give them time to start turning brown on the edges.
- While the vegetables are caramellizing in the pan, give the basil leaves a rough chop and start toasting the pine nuts over medium heat. Watch the pine nuts carefully so they don't burn. Turn them once or twice in a dry pan as they begin to brown. Remove them from the heat immediately after they turn golden brown.
- Once the corn and bell pepper has browned on the edges, add to them the salt and three cups water, turn the heat up to high under the sauce pan, and bring to a boil.
- Add the cup of polenta to the boiling water and vegetables, and reduce heat to low, stirring constantly. Cook slowly for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally once the mixture is simmering.
- After 5 minutes of simmering, remove the pan from the heat, add the toasted pine nuts and basil, cover the pan, and let stand to steam for a few more minutes before serving.
- After plating, top each serving with a teaspoonful of ghee, or clarified butter.
Serving Suggestions
This dish can be accompanied by a slice or two of fresh watermelon for a delicious pop of coolness.
If you feel you need more protein with it, try some pan-seared tofu or tempeh perched on top.
You will really enjoy this with any fresh fruit that's in season to clear your palate from the rich buttery sweetness of the corn.
Reference:
The basic idea of this dish, combining sauteed fresh sweet corn with polenta, comes from 30 Minute Meals by Rachael Ray. The rest of the ingredients and the way they are combined are Elizabeth Herman's ideas.
Elizabeth Herman - Elizabeth Herman (Betsy) recently completed a doctorate in Rhetoric and Composition. Her dissertation research investigated possible ...
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