Vegetable-polenta stacks

This is by no means current, but I found the picture as I was organizing my computer and it was too pretty to not post. Over the summer, I had just gotten back from the farmer's market, not sure what I was going to make for dinner, and this creation sort of just took place. Its a layering of polenta rounds and zucchini and eggplant and heirloom tomato and hummus and basil, topped with some olives and sundried tomatoes. I might have had a dressing for this, I don't remember, but I bet the lemon-basil dressing from the Gazpacho salad stacks would go really well with it. It doesn't matter, in the end, because you'll just deconstruct this thing to eat it, but while it lasts, it sure looks pretty.



To make the polenta rounds, start with a cup of polenta, or corn meal, or any combination of the two. Polenta is a coarser grind, I think that is the only real difference. Add three cups of water to the polenta, about a teaspoon of salt, and any herbs you think might go well. Basil, oregano, rosemary, anything really. Stir the polenta as it cooks, because otherwise it'll stick to the bottom. Its kind of a high-maintenance sort of dish, because if you stop stirring, not only will it stick, it'll start exploding at you. So, be careful of little polenta volcanoes. Once it is starting to pull away from the sides as you stir, which shouldn't be too long, maybe 10-20 minutes, its done, so add a quarter cup or so of grated parmesan, stir it in, and spread it in a baking sheet to cool.



You don't need to grease the sheet, this stuff will pull right away from it. You want it to be pretty thin, so you might need two baking sheets. Spread it out as evenly as you can, and let it dry/congeal/cool/not sure what word goes there for 20-30 min. Once it isn't steaming, you can stick it in the fridge, which will accelerate things. Once you take it out of the fridge, use a glass or other round thing to cut circles out. Leave them on the baking sheet, and bake them at 400F until they are crispy, flipping them about halfway through (sorry no times, it really just depends on your oven, keep checking the rounds). You can eat them without crisping them up, they're delicious that way, but they're even more delicious with an outside crunch.



For layering, its up to you. I had eggplant and zucchini, so I roasted those, and spread the polenta with hummus and just sort of layered stuff on top. Depends what you have available, but this stack is hummus-polenta-tomato-zucchini-polenta-hummus-tomato-zucchini and onwards. You can make smaller stacks if you don't want something to topple off the plate, or if you're into majestic, tall food, make 'em sky-high. Or, just pile stuff on a plate and eat it.