Thursday night: Polenta with Sauteed Vegetables and Pistou; Beans with Shallots and Bacon

My original plan for last night was to make a risotto with CSA fennel, but somehow we didn't have any arborio rice in the house (outrageous!); so risotto wasn't going to happen. So I improv'ed this polenta with vegetables dish:

For the polenta: Bring 6 cups of water to a boil, slowly whisk in 1 1/2 cups of polenta and a big pinch of salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, for about 10-15 minutes, until the polenta is creamy and tastes done. Remove from the heat, cover, and let stand until ready to serve. [Note: This makes a lot of polenta, I should have made 2/3 as much.]

For the veggies:
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, coarsely chopped
1 bulb fennel [CSA], coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)
3 very small eggplant [CSA], 1 cm dice, (about 2 cups)
4 plum tomatoes [CSA], medium dice
olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
marjoram [CSA], rosemary
salt, pepper, crushed red pepper to taste

Heat a Tbs or so of olive oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add the garlic and cook until it turns golden. Add the onions and cook for a minute or two. Add the fennel and cook another minute or two. Add the eggplant, tomatoes, wine, marjoram, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Mix well, reduce heat to medium, cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes, until the veggies start to soften. Remove the cover, add crushed red pepper, and let simmer another 5 minutes to reduce the sauce a bit. Adjust seasonings.

For the pistou:
1 cup basil leaves [CSA], loosely packed
2 small cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2-4 Tbs good olive oil
salt

Put the garlic in a minichop with about 2 Tbs of oil. Process until the garlic is a paste. Add the basil and a good pinch of salt and pulse until finely chopped. Add more oil if needed.

To serve:
Spread some polenta on a warmed plate, top with grated Parmesan cheese, top with vegetables, top with pistou, drizzle with good olive oil.


For the beans: steam some fresh beans (we used both green and wax beans from the CSA) for 5-7 minutes, until they're deeply colored. Refresh them in cold water until ready to use.
Render some finely diced bacon, then add thinly sliced shallots and cook for a couple minutes until the shallots start to caramelize. Add the beans, a bit of butter, and salt and pepper to taste and saute for a few minutes. Serve immediately.

This meal was really, really good. There was much smiling around the table.

For dessert we had CSA strawberries with a bit of sugar and cream.