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Delicious Baked Polenta, Two Glorious Ways!

December 30, 2014
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   I can never have enough polenta. Isn’t it the best? It’s so cheap, it’s super easy to play with, and it’s Italian. Most importantly, it’s insanely versatile. You can make it straight for a plain side dish, fry up ready-made pieces, use it for dessert, and bake it in a pan with a variety of interesting toppings. Like a pizza or flatbread!
    Recently, I went to London’s polenta-based restaurant called La Polentaria (review coming soon). I loved that polenta was front and center for all the dishes (obviously). I also loved that the walls had interesting information about polenta, like that it has more protein per serving than an egg! (So the wall said. I am not checking because I want that to be true.) Here are two recipes, one for a cheesy mushroom baked polenta casserole-sort-of thing, and one for classic polenta bruschetta. Both dishes would be great for entertaining company, although I prefer to hoard the entire casserole pan myself. 
     First, the bruschetta! Lots of bruschetta will use a raw tomato and garlic mixture, but that’s nothing special, really. If you want that, you can easily just chop up some tomatoes and mix with garlic and basil and olive oil. Easy peasy. But it’s winter so I wanted a warm cooked tomato topping. It really pays off to make your own and not use store-bought tomato sauce or any crap like that. I mean you could; you can put literally anything edible on top of hardened polenta and it would be delectable. But when it comes to sauce, this is the way to do it. 
POLENTA BRUSCHETTA
Remember: it’s a hard ‘k’ sound. None of this ‘shetta’ bullshit.
Ingredients:

  • 1 cup dry polenta/corn meal
  • 2 1/2 to 3 cups water
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil 
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
  • 1 cup loose fresh basil leaves (like a small bunch), and about 10 leaves reserved
  • 1/4 cup olive oil, halved
  • 2 teaspoons tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup water
  • black pepper

Directions:

  1. First, make the polenta. In a saucepan, mix the polenta, 1T olive oil, and water and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. As soon as it starts bubbling, turn the heat to medium and stir constantly like really I mean it. Stir and cook until it starts to thicken, about 5 minutes. If it feels too thick, add more water. It should be thick but still pourable. 
  2. Pour the polenta into a casserole dish, about 6×6 or 8×4 or something medium sized. Set aside. 
  3. Now to make the bruschetta topping. In a saucepan over medium heat, saute half the olive oil and all the garlic for a few minutes. Add the salt.
  4. This is the fun part. Take your tomatoes and squeeze and tear and demolish them over the pan and drop them in. Just tear those little mofos apart into a few pieces each. Keep stirring.
  5. Add 1/4 cup of water. Mix and stir. 
  6. Add the tomato paste and the 1 cup of basil. You’ll probably need the rest of the olive oil here to prevent sticking. 
  7. Bring to a boil, then bring down to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes until reduced. If it reduces too fast/gets sticky, add more water and turn your heat down lower. 
  8. Good time to preheat your oven to 300F. 
  9. Your final product should not be sticky but it should be spreadable and thick. Add the 10 reserved fresh basil leaves and the black pepper and stir through. Check for salt. 
  10. Pour the tomato topping over the prepared polenta in the pan. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes. 
  11. Let sit for a good 10 minutes. The polenta should be hard and crispy on the edges, and you should be able to pick up squares with your hands. 
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hahaha this is the longest picture ever I love it
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I ran out of pictures
    Next up, we have a ridiculously addictive vegan-cheese topped mushroom casserole. I never buy vegan cheese like ever, but all this talk about the new Field Roast Chao slices over in Murka has made me quite envious. But apparently, the UK’s best vegan cheese, Violife, is just like the Chao stuff! So I bought it. And it is soooo gooooood. It asked me to be used over a homemade pizza but come on I can’t plan weeknight dinner long enough in advance to account for rising yeast dough. Ain’t nobody got time for that! So instead this is kind of like a polenta pizza! It even has my favorite pizza topping: mushrooms! I also threw on cannellini beans because I love beans. 

Cheesy Mushroom & White Bean Polenta Casserole
Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups dry polenta/corn meal
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil 
  • black pepper
  • 1 pint mushrooms, sliced (about 2 cups loose)
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup cannellini/white beans
  • 1/3 cup grated vegan cheese (I used Violife and I love it forever now)

Directions: 

  1. First, make the polenta. In a saucepan, mix the polenta, olive oil, and 3 cups of water and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. As soon as it starts bubbling, turn the heat to medium and stir constantly. Stir and cook until it starts to thicken, about 5 minutes. Add the 4th cup of water if it feels too thick. It should be pourable.
  2. Pour the polenta into a medium-sized casserole dish. It should be quite deep, because polenta in this casserole stays soft.
  3. Preheat your oven to 300F.
  4. Arrange your mushrooms evenly over the polenta. Spread the beans and the parsley as well.
  5. Now spread the grated cheese over the pan evenly. Add some freshly ground black pepper.
  6. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Let sit for 10.
  7. Enjoyyyy! 
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Genesis in Shoreditch: Good, Interesting, Overpriced Vegan Food

December 11, 2018
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When I last lived in Philadelphia, I lived in the Rittenhouse Square area, right near the big (only?) Barnes and Noble on the corner of 18th and Walnut. Literally the day after I ended my lease, HipCityVeg, a super cool vegan ‘healthy but fun food’ joint, opened across the street from my old apartment. They had burgers, wraps, fries, shakes, all really fantastic too. (Of course their management is questionable at best but this isn’t a post about them.) So of course, of COURSE, I have to tell you that I used to live on Commercial Street, right outside Spitalfields market, right across the street from As Nature Intended, the organic shoppe. And lo, what has opened up right on that block recently? A super cool vegan ‘healthy but fun food’ joint, what else? Let me know if you’re looking to open up a similar place and I’ll tell you when I move from my current house, since I guess that’s the game the universe has chosen for me. Genesis, this newest addition to London’s vegan, organic, swanky, instagram-friendly restaurant scene, is a great addition to the neighborhood, but it’s a good thing I don’t live as close to it anymore, because it’s way too expensive. 
Definitely the best decorated new place I’ve seen in a while, Genesis nails that chic fancy-casual (it’s a thing) vibe that Spitalfields and Shoreditch embrace more and more. Even the food market inside Spitalfields, once just shaky frames that would get taken down every evening, is now mainly composed of permanent counters that give the impression of easy street food but are upscale and expensive. Genesis is all cool, bright, and pink upstairs, with neon lights and fun artwork and signs advertising their choice to cook everything in avocado oil (supposedly healthier, probably more expensive). It feels like it could be an ’80s throwback, but also with ’70s New Mexico decor? It’s cute and fun. OH the only bad thing is – sometimes there is incense burning near the counter where you order, and where some diners will eat. That is like Restaurant 101, to never have strong smells competing with the food smells, especially near (or at!!) seats where it’ll interfere with people’s ability to taste the food. Did you never watch the Top Chef episode where the judges berate the team who puts scented candles on the tables? (One of three episodes I have seen.) Downstairs is dark, crowded, and feels like a late-night joint even earlier in the day (and where decent pictures are impossible). I have now eaten upstairs, downstairs, and via takeaway, so I am equipped to pass my judgment. 
The menu, the giant gorgeous menu above, is probably the greatest sounding ever. I can’t remember any place I’ve ever been more excited about after looking at the menu. It is BALLER. Everything sounds amazing. Whoever created it really did a fantastic job. It’s random, with burgers and hot dogs and also laksa? and Indian food? but you get the worldly joyous feel they were going for. 

Execution of the food is not as fantastic. It’s fine, don’t get me wrong, and some things are great. But nothing is so incredible that it warrants how expensive it is. Let’s take a look. 

Let’s start with the apps and sides. The small plates, if you will, although most things here would fit that description. When I was there with a party of three, we ordered the nachos and the cheese sticks to start. I mean, guys, look at these portions. I could have housed both of these myself and still had room for my main. The bowl for the nachos is what most restaurants would serve a cup of soup in. Not even a bowl of soup! A cup! They were pretty good, but they needed more toppings to make it more ‘nacho’ and less ‘tortilla chips with some sprinkles’. Good, not great; small, not large. The nacho cupasoup bowl is £9.50!!! That is essentially 10 pounds for a handful of chips, a literal tablespoon of guacamole, and some peppers. I could make my own nacho trough for that price, and that’s expecting that I’d have to go through five or so avocados before finding a good one, LONDON.

But that was fine and whatever compared to the cheese sticks. Guys, do you see the cheese sticks? First of all, they were AMAZING. So delicious, so impressive – they found that right texture between solid and creamy that few purveyors of vegan mozzarella et al. cheese sticks have been able to. But that’s the full portion – three. And at least on my computer, the picture is true to actual size. They were about the size of my pinky finger, no longer or wider. And there were JUST THREE. And it cost £5.95! That’s a motherforking £2 PER PINKY. I didn’t realize how expensive they were because I didn’t pay for them but MAN ALIVE. I really liked them too. 

The tacos are the best part of Genesis, I think, because even though one taco is £5 and that is ridiculous, that’s also about market rate for vegan tacos in London, at least compared with the queen of all vegan Mexican food, Club Mexicana. So fine. And the tacos here are really good. I’ve tried the smoked chorizo, with tomatillo salsa, potatoes, and pico de gallo; the fried avocado taco, with refried beans, pico de gallo, and sour cream; and the jackfruit hoisin, with jackfruit ‘duck’, hoisin mayo, cucumber and spring onion, and they were all RG. The fried avocado I’d say is my favorite, and then the jackfruit duck. Their duck piece was more solid than jackfruit usually is, which I liked. So, solid taco game, Genesis! 
The next up of the small plates, maybe we’ll call them the Mindy St. Claire Medium Plates, if you will, do not fare as well. Nothing is bad, as I said above, but some things aren’t executed as well as others, especially for the price. 
I’d been waiting a while to try the kamut mac & cheese, because they can’t do it to go, something about how it’s cooked in its wee pot. So we got it on our third trip, and while it was fine, it was kind of bland. And I love bland food. Also, this little ramekin is tiny. Given the trend so far, I’m sure it’s exactly what you’d expect here for £6.50, but in a regular place for that price I’d expect double the portion. 
My most disappointing dish was the kale caesar salad. You know I love salad, like weirdly all the time love it and I even put regular food on top of salad often, so it’s no surprise I ordered this on my first visit. They offer two sizes for their salads, and I got the large. Or so I thought. Does this look like the large? I shudder to imagine what they serve the small size in, Dixie cups?? The perspective in the picture is a little off for comparing, but the salad bowl was about the same size as a taco, and about as deep too. The lettuce and kale were in too-big pieces, making it super awkward to eat. They definitely need to cut the leaves smaller. But at least it allows you to see how small the portion was – I mean you can count the total number of leaves in the bowl. It’s about 10. I can’t really believe that this is actually the large size, so I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt that there was a mistake and this was the small, because for £12, Ima need more than 10 leaves. 

The bigger dishes are much more satisfying, both in terms of value and taste. My favorite is the sabich, mainly because you get two. It’s little Israeli pita sandwiches with aubergine, red onion, green tahini, cucumber, tomatoes, and the best little tofu egg scramble. The flavor here was wonderful and I really liked it. And for ​£7.95 it’s the best value in the whole place. Would recommend! 

Please excuse this picture of my takeaway, but it’s the torta Milanesa. And this is another one that’s pretty decent value and a great taste! Two in a row! I really enjoyed this super hearty, flavorful Mexican sandwich. Its base is panko-dipped aubergine slices, which were a little tough to bite without taking the entire slice out of the sandwich, so I’d recommend that they cut them into smaller pieces. But with the lettuce, avocado, chipotle mayo, salsa, onions, tomato, and coconut cheese,  it was a great flavor. It says there’s nopal cactus in there too which is awesome but I didn’t really notice it. Regardless, this is a great sandwich, and for £9.95 it’s a lot but decent for this restaurant.
We also tried one of the hot dogs. Honestly, the reason I recommend the hot dogs over the burgers is purely based on size. If you aren’t that hungry, then order a burger. They are tiny. They’re a little bit tall, but they are the circumference of sliders. Literally half the size of a Vurger burger (which is around the corner, and cheaper, just saying). But the hot dogs are well-sized. For about £11, they better be. This sauerkraut dog is the simplest of the hot dog offerings, but is solid. I know I’m criticizing a lot, but look at that plate, and imagine a burger about a 1/3 of the size of the hot dog (at best) all alone on that plate. It doesn’t take a lot to add something, even if it’s just a few pieces of lettuce and onion, on the side so it doesn’t look so lonely and depressing. 
Genesis has a banging dessert menu, including my favorite food in the world: soft-serve. I know. It’s really delicious but much richer than the typical cheap soft serve that I love out of those magical machines. I was told that it’s a mix of cashew and coconut, which accounts for the richness, and for the cost, I guess. It’s £3.95 for this little cup, which is okay I guess for London, typical, fine. But then each topping is another POUND. Man, at least make the little sprinkle of chocolate shavings 50p or something. A whole pound for a teaspoon of powder seems extravagant. I would have loved to have tried the soft serve with the chocolate sand (as pictured) and the honeycomb together, as a server recommended, but £6 for a little baby cup would have been too much. 

They also use the soft serve for their milkshakes, which are great, I must say. You know I rail on and on about how London can’t do good milkshakes because they are too thin. But Genesis does them pretty great. Although, again, for £7, jeez louise. 

So given its expensive location in the gentrified-beyond-recognition area of Spitalfields, and given that it has a decent number of (actually really nice) staff, and given that they use hundo p organic ingredients, I’m sure the prices are warranted to cover costs. It’s just that they could try a little to make it not seem like you’re getting ripped off. It doesn’t cost much in terms of time or effort to throw a basic af side salad on the plate with the sadly small burger, or throw some cheap fries next to the hot dog. And would it really cost them that much more to have another cheese stick or two in that order, considering at the moment it’s three little bits the size of mini gherkins??? I’m trying really hard to give them the benefit of the doubt regarding their price points, but the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it seems. I mean THREE CHEESE STICKS. For SIX POUNDS! That is 2 pounds per little fried mini Gherkin. As someone who has eaten her fair share of overpriced food, I can say with a fair deal of certainty that there’s nothing in a 1.5 inch piece of fried (delicious) goop worth 2 whole freaking pounds. 
But if you know what to order (the sabich, the torta) and what to skip (the cheese sticks, the salad! le sigh), then you can at least have great food for an okay value, at least given the area. And that way it doesn’t feel too excessive to get soft-serve too! I feel bad being so critical of this place because I really do like the food and I really really like the staff. And they have nice bathrooms! But most of the dishes are just so g-d overpriced. Given how much great vegan food is in the area, and for so much cheaper, I can’t really justify going here all that regularly. But if you are in London, you give it a try! And tell me I’m wrong! I’d love to be wrong. 

Veganizing “Friends”: The Joey Special!!!

September 9, 2013
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    Today we are making the Joey Special!!! I hope you are excited, because I am. What is the Joey Special, you ask? If you recall from “The One With Ross’s Wedding”, Joey, in London for Ross’s ill-fated wedding to Emily, calls Phoebe (who couldn’t go to London because she was 9 months pregnant) and they have the following conversation: 

Phoebe: Ooh, the pizza guy’s here!

Joey: What? You ordered pizza without me?!

Phoebe: Yeah. But y’know we were thinking about you, y’know we ordered the Joey Special.

Joey: Two pizzas?!

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Pizza #1!
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Pizza #2!
   Yay!!! We’re making two pizzas today! I know you are thinking exactly what Eddie is saying in the clip at right! 
   If you also want to partake in the Joey Special, let’s get cracking! Homemade pizza is the best, right? It all depends on the crust. If you have an excellent recipe for pizza crust, by all means use that (and please share it with me, though this one was pretty great). I used the following; it makes enough for two rounds:
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Ball o’ dough
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Don’t I cut parchment paper like a pro?
       PIZZA DOUGH! 
Ingredients:

  • 4C all-purpose flour
  • 1t sugar
  • 1 packet instant yeast
  • 1t salt
  • 1 1/2C warm-to-hot water
  • 2T olive oil

Directions:

  1. Mix the water and sugar in a measuring cup, add the yeast and let go nuts for 5 minutes. Make sure it reacts and gets all weird.
  2. Mix flour and salt in a big mixing bowl, then add the liquid ingredients and mix and knead for like 5-10 minutes. If you have a stand mixer, use that. I’m jealous. 
  3. Clean and oil that bowl, or use a different one, put the dough in it, cover with saran wrap, and let rise for 2 hours in a warm place. Halfway through the rising, punch it down.
  4. Once it has risen like Jesus, break the ball into two balls, roll them out, and place on parchment paper onto two round (or whatever shaped) baking or grill or whatever pans. (If you have a pizza stone, again I am jealous.)
  5. Let the rolled out dough sit for at least 10 minutes before topping and baking.
    Preheat the oven to 400°, and then get to decorating! Because I had a thing of tofu and some peppers to use up, I made one Asian-y pizza. And because my mom’s twin was coming to dinner and they are ‘tah-yins’, I made one Italian-y. 
So, for the first (Asian-y) one:
(Sung) This is how we doooo it:

  • Spread down Trader Joe’s edamame hummus
  • On top of that, I put tofu marinated and precooked in a gingery peanut sauce (below)
  • Then I put chopped up sauteed bok choy, edamame beans, red and yellow pepper, cilantro, avocado
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Ingreeds
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Toppings for Pizza #1!
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Marinating tofu
     To make this peanut-ginger tofu, I combined the pictured ingredients (and more!): rice vinegar, Trader Joe’s peanut dressing, mix of tamari and soy sauce, fresh ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and water. I poured this over the tofu and baked it at 375° for about an hour. 

     For the Italian-y one:
     I made a cheesy hummus as a base, then topped it with diced tomatoes, chopped kale, vegan bacon bits and jerky, and a drizzling of olive oil. The cheesy hummus comprised: 1 can of garbanzo beans (it’s for the Italian one, you can’t say chickpeas), juice from half a lemon, 4T olive oil, splash of water, 1t soy sauce, 1/3C nooch. 

(Said with your hands all up in people’s faces) Ah made it like-ah theeees!

  1. Thick layer of cheesy hummus
  2. Cover that with diced tomatoes (I used canned ones, so they were goopy and saucy)
  3. Cover that with vegan meaty stuff
  4. Top it all with chopped kale and a drizzle of olive oil 
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I used this and the bacon bits both from the Vida Vegan Con goodie bag! Finally!
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Pizza #1 before baking!
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Pizza #2 before baking!
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Pizza #1 after baking!
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Pizza #2 after baking!

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     Bake your pizzas for about 20 minutes, until stuff looks golden. This dough got SUPER puffy, which is the best thing you could ever hope for. I’m really pleased with it! And the random topping decisions worked really well. 
     I don’t know why anyone has ever settled for just one pizza before. Two are so much better! And you’ll probably have leftovers. Unfortunately my aunt took the leftovers with her!! Ughhh! You know how I feel about that: 
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