Polenta Chips

About two months ago, I used polenta for the first time. I have to admit, I am kinda hooked on this versatile creamy sweet goodness. It’s quite high in carbohydrates so I use it once every now and then when I need to boost the carb content of a meal. This spin, though, came left of centre and is so full of both winning and awesome that I just had to blog about it.

[  SERVES: 4  |  TIME: 30 MIN  |  COST: <$5  ]
[  JOES' RATING: 4/5  |  MY RATING:  4/5 |  BRITTANYS RATING: 4/5  ]

Ingredients

4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup polenta
1 cup tapioca flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon thyme
oil for frying
salt and pepper to taste

Methods

1. To make the polenta, bring the stock to boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat to lowest setting, add the thyme and slowly pour the polenta into the stock in a slow steady stream. Whisk constantly to ensure the polenta grain is distributed evenly and totally absorbed into the water. Add the butter and stir until it melts. Bring to a slow simmer and allow to cook for 20 minutes, stirring frequently. It is ready when grain texture is smooth and tender.
2. Line a shallow tray (I used a pot lid) with some baking paper. Pour in the polenta and allow to set and cool. This will take about 30 minutes to be cool enough to handle.
   
3. Once cool, cut into chunky even batons. Coat them evenly with tapioca flour, brushing off excess.
4. Place enough oil in a pot to cover the chips and bring it to boiling temperature. Carefully add a few chips at a time, and cook until golden brown and floating. You may need to do this in several batches. Place on absorbent kitchen paper to drain.
   
5. Season with salt and pepper and serve while hot.

Observations

We all loved these. They were a lovely addition to our meal of steamed seasonal vegetables.

Although they are time-consuming to make, it was well worth the effort.

Diabetic Note: We often have just plain vegetables, so a carbohydrate sink is often needed to balance the meal. These polenta chips were brilliant in that regard.

Ethical Note: I know I said eat them hot. They were SO good hot! The following day, I tossed some left overs in our salad lunch box and they went down a treat even though they were cold. Goes to show you, never waste food!

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Char grilled veggie stack

This No Meat Monday was bought to you by the letters Y, U and M! Monday is a fairly hectic study day for me, so I like to keep it fairly simple on Mondays. A little while before lunch, I decided to get some potato and sweet potato chips on to cook. Joe and I love rustic chunky chips – who doesn’t? I baked these chips in a combination of paprika, garlic and cinnamon with a drizzle of olive oil. Flavour combination was divine! It does come with a diabetics warning, though. My BGL’s were NOT happy at all with all these carbs, even though I kept mostly to the sweet potatoes.

I have been having a craving for char grilled veggie for days, so I knew what I wanted for dinner. I also had some bocconcini (a kind of mozzarella cheese) in the fridge, and a desire for some polenta. The resulting veggie stack was delicious!

[  Serves: 3  |  Time: 1hr  |  Cost: $5 - 8  ]

Ingredients

Veggie Stack

Equal quantities of any vegetables you fancy. We used:

• Eggplant
• Zucchini
• Sweet Potato
• Red Capsicum
• Onion
• Corn of the Cob
• Cherry Tomatoes

Bocconcini to taste

Polenta

2 cups water
½ cup polenta
2 tablespoons butter
salt to taste

Methodology

• Cut the vegetables in 1 – 2cm slices. Lightly coat a hot grill pan or BBQ with a little olive oil. Char grill the vegetables until cooked, turning when necessary. For heavier vegetables such as sweet potato and corn on the cob, steam lightly until par cooked first.
• To make the polenta, bring the salted water to boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat to lowest setting and slowly pour the polenta into the water in a slow steady stream. Whisk constantly to ensure the polenta grain is distributed evenly and totally absorbed into the water. Add the butter and stir until it melts. Bring to a slow simmer and allow to cook for 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Serve when grain texture is smooth and tender.
• The polenta can be poured into an egg ring and left on a cool plate for five minutes to set firm. This serves as a great base for the stack, or once firm enough, anywhere in the stack. Assemble the stack as desired. Season and serve hot or cold.

Observations

• Nom nom nom – soooooooooooo good!
• Ethical Note: I like to use bocconcini because it uses non animal rennet as its setting agent. Rennet is a set of emzymes that are present in the stomach of mammal babies that helps them digest their mothers milk. It is harvested from slaughtered cows calves. It is commonly used as a setting agent in cheese making. Traditionally from Italy, it use to be made from the milk of water buffaloes. These days, it is made locally from cows milk. If you look you will find cheese made with non animal rennet.
• Diabetic Note: The only real carbohydrates from this meal is in the polenta. The polenta is actually quite high in carbohydrates, so watch your serve size if worried.

 

Chicken Cacciatore

Friday nights are chicken nights, and we all love chicken! This week, we bought a brand new six piece Baccarat cookware set, and I’ve been itching to use the stove to oven sauté pan since I got it. I decided to do my spin on Chicken Cacciatore and take advantage of this one pot cooking style that I have been dreaming of. The results were mouth watering delicious, but had a very painful twist.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Chicken

1kg free ranged chicken pieces
1 red capcicum
1 zuchinii
1 large onion
1 can tomatoes
¾ cup white wine
6- 10 olives
½ cup flour
3-4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon tumeric
1 tablespoon thyme
1 tablespoon parsley
3 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
Splash of olive oil

Polenta

2 cups water
½ cup polenta
2 tablespoons butter
salt to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Chop all the vegetables into large bite size pieces and set aside. Remove any excess fat from the chicken before giving it a good season with salt, pepper and a little tumeric. Coat the seasoned chicken into flour (Photo 1).

2. Bring a sauté pan up to a hot temperature and warm the oil. Add the chicken and brown off. Remove from pan and set aside (Photo 2 above)

3. Using the left over chicken juices and oil, begin to sauté the onions with the garlic, thyme, parsley and left over turmeric. Once onions are opaque, add the remaining vegetables, and ensure they are coated in the juice and herb mixture (Photo 3 above). Add the wine and cook at a high simmer for 2 minutes.

4. Add the tomatoes, olives and bay leaves to the pan before returning the chicken. Don’t worry about submerging the chicken all the way into the vegetable and liquid mixture as the crispy tops add a lovely texture to the dish (Photo 4  below). Place pan lid on into the oven and cook at 220°C for 20 minutes.

5. Check that the liquid hasn’t reduced too much, and top up with warm water if needed (Photo 5). Reduce heat to 150°C and cook for a further half hour until sauce is reduced and vegetables are cooked (Photo 6 above). This will allow the flavours to develop. For those who enjoy a richer sauce, remove the meat and vegetables from the pan and reduce the sauce into a thicker gravy.

6. To make the polenta, bring the salted water to boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat to lowest setting and slowly pour the polenta into the water in a slow steady stream. Whisk constantly to ensure the polenta grain is distributed evenly and totally absorbed into the water. Add the butter and stir until it melts. Bring to a slow simmer and allow to cook for 20 minutes, stirring frequently (photo below). Serve when grain texture is smooth and tender.

Observations

• This meal is a hearty delicious meal that tastes of heaven. I really enjoy it when ever I make it. I add different vegetables at different times for a slightly different feel, but the tomatoes, olives and capsicums are a must! Traditionally, mushrooms would be used instead of the zuchini but I am allergic to mushies so this is my substitute.
• I am not sure that the polenta is traditionally served with a meal like this, but I adore the texture of it as it firms up. The salty sweet taste of if adds something magical to this dish.
• Diabetic Note: For diabetics, I am unable to give you a good indicator as to how my BGL’s reacted to this as my BGL’s were sky high due to the burn (below). Ahh shock and stress… how you played havoc on my bloods last night. Anyway, carb content for the chicken portion of the meal is very low. I added the polenta to boost it a little for my insulin intake. Polenta is quite high in carbohydrates so don’t overdo the serves; less is better. Also, because the chicken is cooked skin on, there are a fair amount of fats in this dish, so keep the oil to a minimum when browning off the chicken / sautéing the veggies.
• I have a cautionary tale to tell, dear readers. When I removed the sauté pan from the oven half way through the cooking time to check the contents, I forgot to put my oven mitt back on when putting the pan back into the oven. The metal was exceedingly hot, and I received some exceptionally nasty burns to my hand for my trouble. It is probably my inexperience showing as I am so use to the one pot cooking style. At any rate, my error hurt quite a bit. Thank you to Brittany for helping finish off the dinner, making the polenta, plating up and taking all the pictures.

Post note:

I really didn’t get to enjoy my dinner because of my burnt hand, but I sure did enjoy the left over sauce with toast the next day for lunch, and I think it tasted even better than it did the night before! nom nom nom

Its a few days later now and my hand is fine thanks to some tender loving care from Joe.