A Savory Polenta Pie

This is one of my favorite dishes to make. I start with pre-made Polenta from Trader Joes. It comes in a tube sausage looking thing. I slice it up and cook it in the microwave with a little bit of water to soften it up. About 2 min. Then I mash it into the pie pan with a buttered spatula

Bacon is a fab ingredient and makes everything just taste better. This also has a bit of sweet onion, and Shiitake mushrooms

I pre-cooked the broccoli and Brussels sprouts. The butternut squash, sweet potatoes and wild rice where cooked the previous day for lunch. Leftover veggies are great for this dish

And for some more deliciousness, I added Havarti cheese to the bottom of the pie

and some to the top. Baked at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. It's an easy one dish meal!

Tired of the same old zucchini recipes? Try this one!

Cheesy Garlic Zucchini Bread

 

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Prep and or Rising time

20 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

Author: Melanie - Gather for Bread

Recipe type: Bread

Serves: 4 mini loaves or 1 large loaf

Ingredients

• 3 cups all purpose flour
  
• 4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
• ¼ cup of finely chopped green onion
• 1 Tablespoon fresh dill (or 2 teaspoon dried dill)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) of butter, melted

Print an E-Book for Easy Pies & Desserts!

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a regular size loaf pan (9x5 inch) or 4 small loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl add the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and garlic powder. Whisk to combine. Add the zucchini, cheddar cheese, green onion and dill. Stir together.
3. In separate small bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk and butter.
4. Pour the wet ingredients to the ingredients in the large bowl. Gently stir together just until moistened.
5. Pour into loaf pans and bake. One large loaf should take about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Or bake 4 mini loaves for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pan to cool completely or serve warm.

Recipe from Emily Shares which was published in Joy of Cooking

Asiago Cheese, Polenta and Mushroom Pie

My friend Michele Muska sent me this book as a get well wish, for when I had an ankle replacement earlier this year.  Her pie is on the cover.  The book is "Where Women Cook: pie ography."  by Jo Packham.  The basis of my recipe was from Page 42 "Tomato & Caramelized Onion Pie.  I can't eat tomatoes, so I improvised a bit.

One sweet onion, chopped

about 3T of olive oil in a pan, add onions and cook, till the onions are golden.  To caramelize, add a teaspoon of sugar and a tad of butter, and stir.

Cooked Polenta (the entire package) from Trader Jose, and a bag of Crimini mushrooms

Have you seen this butter in stores?  Tuscan style.  I use it in very small quantities, for added flavor

Asiago cheese, grate, or chop up into small pieces and set aside

Using a potato masher, mash the polenta, add a touch of water, and microwave it about 1 minute, then check to see how it is sofening up. You want it sort of soft.

To the onions, add the Crimini mushrooms and sautee

Yum, chopped garlic, all ready to go.  I used about a tablespoon

And instead of using a pie dish, I used a 9x13 glass pan.  I sprayed the bottom of the pan with PAM olive oil spray.  Line the bottom of the pan with the Polenta

Mushrooms and onions, and I added a few strips of pre-cooked bacon that I chopped up.  You can leave this out, if you are going for a vegetarian dish

Add the onions and mushroom mixture to the top of the polenta

Then spoon the Asiago cheese on the top

Cook in the oven at 400 for about 25-30 minutes.  Serve hot.

Atomic Deer Turds

When I saw the name of this dish, I just had to share it.*  This comes from a food blog I follow, "Eating Our Words", a feature of the Houston Press, and I thought you might enjoy it!

Texas Tailgating: Atomic Deer Turds

Sausage Fest

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Note: This is a rerun of a post from 2008 in which former Houston Press food critic Robb Walsh shares a favorite tailgating recipe in honor of game day.

Tailgaters love to stuff jalapeños with cheese (usually cream cheese) and wrap meat around them. To make "atomic buffalo turds," you stuff a half a jalapeño with a "cocktail smokie" sausage and cream cheese, wrap it with bacon, secure with a toothpick and grill until the bacon is crisp. Then there's "armadillo eggs," made by wrapping pork sausage around a cream cheese-stuffed pepper.

In Texas, where tailgaters, trail drive riders and hunting camp cooks have lots of venison on hand, variations on this theme use deer meat. I've seen butterflied venison backstrap and venison hamburger meat used as the outer layer around a stuffed jalapeño -- but the most common meat for this use is venison sausage. These are known by a number of names including "atomic deer turds," or, in polite company, "venison sausage balls."

I made some of these on my backyard grill for breakfast this morning. The initial burn of the jalapeño was intense enough to wake me up, but it quickly subsided into a pleasant mouth buzz that went great with my morning coffee. The trick to taming the heat is to clean out as much of the white inner membrane as you can before you stuff the pepper with cheese. If you really want to tone it down, you can also cut the pepper in half.

Atomic Deer Turds

I usually use aged gouda or jack cheese, but you can use whatever you have handy. Cream cheese works, too. Substitute pork sausage and you've got "armadillo eggs."

• 2 small jalapeños
• 2 one-inch chunks of cheese
• 6-8 ounces venison sausage, cold
• Cooking spray

Cut the the tops off the jalapeños, leaving one and a quarter inches of the bottom end of the pepper. With a butter knife, hollow out the inside of the pepper, removing all of the seeds and as much of the white pith as possible without puncturing the chile. Cut some cheese so that it fits inside the pepper.

Photo by Robb Walsh

Flatten a cold 3- to 4-ounce patty of venison sausage on a cutting board with your palm. Peel it up and fold it around the stuffed pepper, squeezing to form an oblong shape. Spray some oil on a grill or griddle and cook the stuffed sausage over medium heat, turning often, for about 15 minutes or until well-browned on all sides.

Allow to cool enough to handle, then, with a sharp knife, cut each oblong in half so you can see the pepper and cheese. Serve immediately.

Makes 4.