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Grilled Polenta Circles

Grilled Polenta Circles

My daughter, Daphne, is 18 now. She has a great job, a new apartment, and a food blog. I am a pretty proud parent.

She has been trying to be an adult for about four years now and couldn’t wait to get her own place. In fact, a few months ago, she secretly adopted a cat. She couldn’t wait for her apartment to get started. Her cat, Laser, is with her now at the new home. Her blog is called Fit. Happy. Vegan. You can find it at www.fithappyvegan.com. She writes about fitness, happiness and being a vegan. She provides many delicious recipes for her readers. I am really impressed with her writing skills. You should check it out. She has a Facebook page called Fit Happy Vegan as well. Like it and it will remind you each time she upddates her blog.

Since Daphne is new to living on her own, she is quickly realizing how expensive life can be. She has rent, utilities, and food to pay for now. Therefore, and no surprise to me, she stops by often for lunch or to make the food for her blog. I don’t mind at all and welcome her to come to our house whenever she feels like it and for whatever reason. It’s fine if her visit is only for free food. I didn’t want her to move anyway.

This week, we invited her over to watch Oscar nominated films with us. I told her I would make a bunch of snacks. My plan was to make hummus, a cheese platter with crackers, cornichons, French bread and tapenade. She immediately asked if we could make something for her blog. I told her, “of course we can.”

I had just finished a big grocery shop and knew I would have something she could whip up for her next post. She arrived and went straight to the kitchen. She looked throught the cupboards and the refrigerator. She finally became intrigued by the polenta.

She thought it would be a great idea to make polenta pizzas. I had the pizza sauce, vegetarian sausage and onions. She didn’t think it would be good without vegan cheese. I didn’t have any of that. I have been buying this amazing Treeline Treenut Cheese. I just didn’t happen to have any on this day. This vegan cheese is the first I have come across, which satisfies my cheese craving. I am still eating cheese but I eat this stuff too. It is made out of cashews and tastes so good.

I told her the polenta circles didn’t have to be pizzas. It could just be a sort of polenta dish. She decided to forgo the pizza sauce and opted for the fresh tomatoes instead. At this point, Claud intervened and suggested she caramelize the onions and add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar over the finished product. I liked the sound of this.

At that point, I was getting hungry. This snack was sounding like a winner. Daphne sauted the onions, tomatoes and “sausage” in a big pot. I didn’t point out that she was not actually caramelizing the onions. I don’t think she wanted to take the time because we were waiting to watch the movie. She grilled the polenta circles and then topped them with everything and drizzled on the balsamic vinegar as Claud suggested.

She brought over the platter to the coffee table and placed it by the other snacks. I grabbed one and dug right in. They were delicious. I absolutely love polenta and Daphne grilled these perfectly. After the movie, she kissed us goodbye and headed back to her place. I brought the remaining food to the kitchen to find that she had not washed up after her cooking. I guess some things never change.

Grilled Polenta Circles:

Serves: 4

Time: 15 minutes

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 tube polenta,

cut into circles

4 vegetarian sausages,

sliced

1 tomato, diced

1 onion, sliced

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon balsamic

vinegar

Heat a grill pan to medium high heat. Place polenta slices on the grill. Grill for five minutes each side. In a skillet, heat the olive oil to medium high heat. Add sausage, tomatoes, and onions. Sprinkle this with salt and pepper. Sauté for ten minutes. Place polenta on a plate. Pour the remaining ingredients over the polenta. Drizzle these with balsamic vinegar.

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