August 5th, 2009 
duodishes 
It’s been a crazy week already! The excitement of being one of the finalists for Best Food Blog in the Black Weblog Awards has us buzzing. We appreciate everyone’s votes, which managed to push us into the top four. Now we’re virtually duking it out, and would of course love it if you’d help us take home the virtual trophy. Hopefully you will be kind enough to vote for us again! You’ll find the link at the end of today’s story. In the meantime, we must keep eating.
Even though it’s stifling hot outside, and turning on the oven or stove does not help with the rising temperatures, we’ve been eating a lot of polenta this summer. Polenta is worth blasting a gas stove to boil and bubble in a pot. Polenta is worthy of an oven turned to 350 degrees in the early evening when the trapped heat of the apartment has yet to release into the gradual and welcome cooling of the night. Yes friends, polenta merits all of these things because it is so good. Morning, noon and night, polenta can make its way into a variety of dishes. So close to our Southern friend, those good ‘ol grits, it’s prepared in a similar way with a similar consistency and taste, but it has managed to make itself the choice ingredient in a wider variety of dishes. That could be because of it can be paired with so many other ingredients, and it can really take on great flavors if you choose to do something crazy and funky with it. We’re not sure why we don’t use it more often, but we support polenta (and grits too!) in all of its ventures. It’s one of our favorite go to items when we have to do a bit of impromptu culinary magic.
It was the dead of summer, yet we had a variety of feel good winter ingredients in the fridge and pantry–polenta, ground beef, Australian parmesan. This was something pulled together in a pinch on the kind of night where you don’t want to cook, but you want to eat. That should be reason enough. The final dish was perfect (although that picture is not!)–hearty, hot and filling. We’ll have to keep it on file for those days when the nights are much cooler and a bottle of red vino is open.
Beef and Polenta Pie – Serves 6 to 8
1 pound ground beef
1 red onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 zucchinis, sliced
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2 cups water, divided
9 ounces roasted red peppers, drained and sliced
3 ounces Neufchatel cheese
1 1/2 cup fresh parmesan, grated
1. Add olive oil to a wide pan. When hot, slide in garlic and onions.
2. Once onions start to go translucent, add beef, salt and red pepper flakes. Stir and cook until browned, approximately 6-8 minutes.
3. As beef cooks, pour 1 1/2 cups of water into a pan and set to boil. Stir cornmeal into remaining 1/2 cup of water. When water is boiling, add cornmeal and stir well. Turn heat down to simmer and cook according to package directions. Stir in Neufchatel cheese at the end of the cooking time.
4. Remove beef and set aside to drain, but save pan drippings. Add zucchini directly to pan drippings and cook until they start to soften, approximately 5-7 minutes.
5. Using a 9-inch pie pan, layer cooked ground beef with zucchini followed by roasted peppers. Top with 1 cup of parmesan cheese.
6. Spread cooked polenta evenly on top of the beef and vegetables. Top with remaining parmesan cheese.
7. Line a baking dish with foil and set pie pan on top. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until cheese browns.
Whaddya know! We’re finalists in the 2009 Black Weblog Awards! You got us this far, so why not give one more vote. Just click the icon!
Click HERE for the printable recipe.
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Of course, I just went and voted for you.. can you vote once a day or just once? You so deserve to win, fingers crossed.
As always, impeccable food.XXOO
I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Polenta. And frankly, I’m not ashamed to admit, I’m all about eating winter dishes in the summer… I am such a fall/winter dish kind of girl!
voted!!
my sweets is getting me a gas grill for my birthday and it has a side burner, perfect for making something like this outside!
you know, I really like polenta, but I almost never make it. I love the idea of a meaty polenta pie.
I love good polenta dishes & yours looks yummie!
Scrumptious. I like those combo.
Sounds tasty, I’ll have to remember it next fall.
More than happy to vote for you!
Bonne chance!
LL
Looks like a tasty twist on shepherd’s pie!
Love polenta too and the polenta and beef pie is a great idea! Will vote for you!
ohh that looks mighty delicious, congrats on being a finalist! I recently discovered the goodness of polenta and I have to say it truly is an underrated dish! I also love that you can do so many things with it.
Nice. I have yet to try making polenta, but I love the stuff. Now I need to.
I always wonder what to do with the rest of the polenta I have left. This sounds like a great idea!
Woohoo! Congrats on the top 4! This looks like a great rift on Shepard’s Pie. Looks incredibly tasty!
That! just looks freakin good! I saw the pizza, the miso hungry, and caught up on some other posts and now I cannot decide what to cook, but I will be definitely cooking this one when hubby returns!
YAY! You got my vote and the pie looks great!
Already voted…a delicious idea to join beef and polenta… a gorgeous combo
Congrats for being finalists!!
Cheers,
Gera
Cool idea. I can’t say I have ever cooked with polenta, but you make a good case for it.
Great idea to use polenta (or grits) on the top of food — for some reason I always thought of it on the bottom of things. Poor polenta!
I’ve been toying around with the idea of cooking with polenta lately. One of the many things on my list of items to tackle — pizza, bread, etc, etc. I definitely want to try your shrimp & grits recipe soon.
I love this idea of beef and polenta pie. Delicious!
Paz
This looks tasty, love polenta! A hearty and delicious meal combined with the beef. Congrats on the top 4!!!
Wow congrats! We’ll vote for you!
I just posted a polenta recipe, too, but this puts mine to shame. So delicious!
You have my vote.
congrats on the top 4!! vat a delightful dish.. yumm!!
Congrats on being in the top 4! I hope you guys bring home the trophy.
That does look hearty, hot, and filling. Love all the veggies in it!
First off, I voted twice for you guys on two different ‘puters, so go duo! (flapping pom poms) LOL
Secondly, I’m going to try and make this tonight. I love polenta, and I’m always looking for great ways to use it sporadically, whether it be fried, soft, cut into squares etc. Yours looks so mouth watering..I’d eat it for breakfast!
BTW- would you believe I’ve never tried grits? A food nut never trying grits is just weird..lol
Beef and polenta – nice! I have never cooked with polenta before… I wonder if I will like it??
What fantastic idea! I bet you could use turkey meat, too. Yummo!
Mmm, polenta. Not as good as grits… but good
definitely worth the extra heat.
Off to vote again– best of luck!!
Polenta is always great for pulling together a simple, satisfying meal… this looks mighty delish. And good luck on the award!!
I could gobble that up.
Congrats for top 4! I just voted. Good luck!
Tasty looking polenta – good luck with the voting!
Ooh congratulations on being a finalist! Very well deserved
Keep us posted on how you go!
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