Roasted Vegetables with Polenta

• February 24, 2014  |
• by Kirstin Uhrenholdt

Roasted vegetables, polenta, cheese and tomato sauce is good no matter how it is served. Stack them all into a little tower and you suddenly look like you are kind of fancy, which, of course you are.

The vegetables here are just a beginning, any vegetable that is round and “roastable” is welcome, so go ahead and experiment with roasted red peppers, butternut squash or portobello mushrooms. To make an easy dish even easier, this recipe calls for the pre-made “polenta tubes” you can find in most grocery stores (a “fancy trick” for fancy you).

You need:

2 17-ounce polenta “tubes” (or home made polenta, chilled on a baking sheet and cut into rounds)
1 large sweet potato, peeled
1 eggplant (about the same size as the polenta tube), peeled
1 large red onion
1 large or several smaller zucchini
8 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced into 6 slices
Olive oil
A handful of fresh basil or arugula leaves
6 cups of your favorite tomato sauce (here is the recipe for ours)

To make 6 servings:

Preheat your oven to 450º.

Slice the polenta into 12 ¼-inch slices and toss with olive oil, put the slices on parchment paper-lined baking sheets and pop them into the oven until they start to crisp up, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile slice all the vegetables into ¼ inch thick rounds (if your zucchini are thin slice them in half, then lengthwise). Toss with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt.

Keeping each type of vegetable together put them on parchment paper-lined baking sheets (you want to do this because the zucchini will roast quicker than the sweet potato).

Roast the vegetables until they are tender and golden, flipping them once. The zucchini will probably be done in 15 minutes, the rest of the vegetables should be done in 25-30 minutes, just keep an eye on them and remove them as they are done.

For each tower place a round of polenta on a baking sheet, then stack a piece of each vegetable, a slice of mozzarella and another slice of polenta, top your tower with something colorful, like the sweet potato. Take a moment to make sure it is all balanced. When the 6 towers are ready, put the baking sheet back into the oven until the vegetables are hot and cheese has melted, about 10 minutes.

Slide each stack onto a plate with tomato sauce, top with the herbs then serve with a “Ta daaa!”