Recipe Source: Klein, Donna. Vegan Italiano. Penguin Group, New York, 2006 p. 11
When I was planning my Thanksgiving meal I was faced with a bit of an issue. My in-laws' favorite part of any meal or gathering is the appetizer. If I wanted this to be a positive experience for them I needed to make something delicious for them to eat. Unfortunately I was really short on two resources: time and refrigerator space. This recipe, which is really a combination of two recipes on the same page, was perfect for my needs. It was easily made that morning, delicious, and it looked great. Everyone was pretty into these, both the day of the event and the next day. My daughter liked them. Even the dogs liked them, although we certainly didn't encourage them to sample.
I made a few changes. I made a lot of changes. The first is that the recipe is no longer vegan. Sorry - I was in a rush and so I just made up the recipe for pesto on the spot. Fortunately none of our guests are actually vegan, so it was okay. In terms of the pesto, while I realize that pesto usually kind of inherently involves nuts I used breadcrumbs instead. We're supposed to avoid giving our daughter tree nuts for another couple of months and there was no way on Earth that we were going to keep her out of these. I simplified the olive and sun-dried tomato paste to be two ingredients, which allowed me to use a prepared olive paste and just made my life hugely easier. I omitted the garnish. I made my polenta fresh instead of using packaged cooked polenta, which saved on cost and allowed me to control things like the shape.
Polenta Canapes (serves 16; approx. $1.43/serving)
3 cups polenta
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons garlic paste
6 cups vegetable broth
1 cup basil leaves, roughly chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated pecorino pepato
1 jar olive paste
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
Equipment:
- Large roasting pan
- Large saucepan
- Food processor
- Mini-prep food processor
- Preheat your oven to 350.
- Combine the basil, breadcrumbs, cheese and 1/4 cup oil in the food processor. Process to a paste.
- Combine the olive paste and sun-dried tomatoes in the mini-prep. Process to a paste.
- Bring the broth to a boil in the saucepan.
- Add the polenta in a slow stream, stirring constantly.
- Reduce heat. Add the garlic and remaining tablespoon olive oil. Stir well.
- Cover and cook 15 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Let stand, covered, 5 minutes.
- Spread the polenta into the saucepan. Let stand a few minutes.
- Spread half the polenta with the pesto and half with the olive paste.
- Bake 15 minutes.
- Cut into squares and serve. These are good warm or at room temperature.
