Regardless of how it may appear, I promise that this is not a picture of a bowl of parmesan cheese. The picture is awful, I admit it, but we all have our days. However, there comes a time in the life of every food blogger when we must decide if the awful picture is enough to prevent us from sharing a recipe. To this, I say no: I will share this recipe with the world, even if the picture is only appetizing to people like my brother, who like to eat parmesan cheese out of a bowl with a spoon.
If you look closely, you will see that there is, in fact, something green under all that cheese. It’s zucchini. And under that zucchini is something delectable: freshly made polenta.
Polenta is a weird comfort food for me. It’s not something that I had growing up, but as soon as I made my first bowl, I fell in love with it. In the past year, I haven’t made too much, as cornmeal is not a terribly popular product in French supermarkets, but before I left my Paris apartment, I was trying to clean out my pantry, and I found a half-empty bag of cornmeal from when I made cornbread at Thanksgiving. I had only one thought: polenta.
Zucchini Polenta
¼ cup cornmeal
1 cup milk
salt and pepper
2 tsp. olive oil
1 zucchini, sliced
½ onion, diced
½ cup parmesan cheese
Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat. When hot (not boiling), add the polenta, stirring constantly. Cook until the polenta has thickened, adding water if necessary. Stir in half of the parmesan cheese, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover.
In a frying pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion and a pinch of salt and cook until translucent. Add the slices of zucchini. Cook on one side until browned, about two minutes. Switch sides. Stir the zucchini and onion mixture into the polenta. Serve with extra cheese on the side for sprinkling (or dumping, if you’re me).