Creamy polenta with eggplant and tomato recipe

I have a constant rambling inside my brain on which grain is the best: is it pasta? is it cous-cous? is it rice? or… polenta? Every time I cook one of these I tell myself “I couldn’t live without it” and they suddenly rise to my number 1 grain list. Then another day passes by and… it’s creamy polenta that wins the prize. I think I’d be better off admitting I can’t live without any of those, but today I don’t want to talk about pasta, or rice (Which have been widely featured in tofucado), but about polenta. More specifically, creamy polenta. And even more, my creamy polenta recipe.

Creamy polenta is just so powerful, it enhances the flavor of anything you are eating it with, and it just … so good? The only downside of polenta is that it sometimes does not look super sexy, and it looks rather like a big giant yellow mass on your plate. Not too great. However, the other day it actually looked pretty, and it was the time to show you my recipe!

🇫🇷 La recette est disponible en français tout en bas du post!

Ingredients

• Polenta: You can find it at any supermarket, I’d assume. I know it isn’t huge in Spain because I only discovered it while I was in France, but I’m pretty sure it is more popular now.
• Veggie broth: You can cook it with water but I find that doing it with veggie broth adds an extra layer of flavor.
• Veggies: The chosen veggies are eggplants, tomatoes and onion. The perfect mix.
• Seasoning: Basil, origan, balsamic vinegar and our beloved friends: pepper, salt, olive oil & butter !

How to prepare this creamy polenta recipe?

Two things will be going on at the same time. But you can cook them one by one, it’s just to avoid having the veggies cold while the polenta cooks, or vice versa.

First, we will start cooking the polenta. Bring the veggie broth to a boil, when boiling, add all the polenta and stir fast. You want to avoid any lumps! When it all starts to look quite uniform, reduce the heat and cover with a lid. We are going to simmer the polenta while we focus on the veggies.

Now, the veggies. No mystery here. We will do like we always do: olive oil, then onion & eggplant. We are going to cook these two for 7 to 8 minutes until they start to brown. Then we’ll add the tomatoes. This is where we are going to add the balsamic vinegar and all the spices. If at some point it all starts to get attached to the pan, add a bit of extra veggie broth to deglaze the bottom. Cook for around 10 minutes then it’s all good.

To finish off the polenta you can now add the butter and mix well. Add some salt and pepper if you find it a bit bland. Serve in a bowl and cover with the veggies, and enjoy the simplicity and deliciousness of this dish.

Optional ingredients and ways to eat this creamy polenta

You can eat the polenta with any side dish you want. We both felt like it was lacking some protein, so I added one fried egg and my boyfriend some roasted chickpeas.

You can also top it with some italian cheese such as burrata or mozzarella.

I have been doing more every day like recipes, some of them are my recent healthy smoked tofu rice bowl, and my catalan roasted veggies recipe.

📢 What other type of dishes would you like to see featured? Do you want more like these? Or do you prefer dishes for other occassions such as my pizza or my wellington ? Tell me all in the comments !

Print Recipe

Creamy polenta with eggplant and tomato recipe

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time40 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: International

Keyword: cherry tomatoes, eggplant, polenta

Servings: 2 people

Ingredients

• 1 cup of polenta
• 2 and 1/2 cups veggie broth plus a bit more if needed
• 2 tbsp salted butter
• 2 eggplants big chunks
• 3 riped tomatoes diced
• 1 large onion diced
• 2 tbsp basil dried
• 2 tbsp origan dried
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• Salt & Pepper to taste and the usual amount of olive oil 2 tbsp plus more as needed!
• Optional: 2 tbsp cream for the polenta
• Optional side-protein: 1 fried egg roasted chickpeas, spinach, …
• Optional: Burrata cheese mozarella cheese.

Instructions

• In a pot, add the veggie broth and bring it to a boil. When it starts to boil, add the polenta.
• Reduce the heat and let the polenta simmer while we cook the eggplant and the tomatoes. Don’t forget to stir the polenta mix every now and then to avoid it to become lumpy.
• Cut the eggplant in big chunks and dice the onion & tomatoes.
• Add the olive oil to the pan you will use too cook the eggplant/tomatoes. When hot, add the eggplant and the onion.
• The eggplant needs to be a bit brown/charred. This is going to take around 7-8 minutes. When it starts to look like that, add the tomatoes. Mix well.
• Add all the spices and reduce heat. Add the balsamic vinegar. If you notice that the veggie mix is starting to get too cooked (or burned), add a bit of veggie broth to deglaze the pan.
• Continue to cook for about 10 minutes. The flavors of each veggie has to be mixed well, along with the spices and it needs to be on the ragout side of textures.
• Set aside the veggie pan, and now let’s turn our attention to the polenta. Add the butter and mix well. The texture should be really creamy. If you want it to be extra creamy, add the cream (I did not add any in this recipe, but I have done it in the past).
• Serve it in a bowl: Add a couple of big spoons of polenta and top with the veggies. I added one fried egg on top of mine, my boyfriend mixed it with roasted chickpeas.

🇫🇷 Polenta crémeuse avec des aubergines et tomates – Version en français