By Sidonie Maroon, The Food Co-op Culinary Educator, abluedotkitchen.com

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Chickpea Polenta as a Base for Roasted Veggies

I made the cheesy chickpea polenta bake for lunch, and kept going back for tastes — red sauce, roasted onions and yellow summer squash... chickpea polenta light and gooey cheese. Flavors amplified after it’s had time to meld. Late Summer feels like it’s had time to meld — ripe tomatoes, basil, red peppers and eggplant. It’s harvest time. Speaking of harvest, the farm tour is this weekend, so please go out and celebrate local food.

Polenta is the perfect companion for all those farm veggies. I roast a lot of zucchini and company these days. I like the Greek and Italian tradition of anointing vegetables with extra virgin olive oil before baking. Fresh herbs, salt, olive oil—you can’t go wrong.

I used to make polenta on the stovetop, but it takes 20 plus minutes of constant stirring, sticks to the bottom of the pan, pops burning bubbles up into your arms, and for what? Mush!

Polenta and I parted ways for a while until I bought “The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook” by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufman. I can’t recommend this book enough and it’s still in print. They have several recipes for making polenta in the rice cooker. If you don’t own a rice cooker, consider one. I use mine along with the Instant Pot daily. They’re my dynamic duo for hands-off cooking. I own a large Sanyo with fuzzy logic. Polenta is easy now — I mix it in with cold water, set the machine to the porridge cycle, and stir for a few seconds every 15 minutes. Wow.

Cheesy Chickpea Polenta Bake with Harvest Roasted Veggies

Serves 4

Easy

Ingredients

Polenta

1 cup freshly ground chickpea flour from 1 heaping cup raw chickpeas (or use 1 cup stone ground corn polenta)

4 cups water

½ teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon sea salt

Roasted Veggies

1 large onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb summer squash, diced

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs {rosemary, oregano, basil or 2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs)

Sauce

15-ounce can tomato sauce

1 teaspoon anchovy fish sauce

1 teaspoon soy sauce or Bragg’s aminos

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Combined Cheeses

2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated

1 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Directions

Rice Cooker Polenta

1. Using a rice cooker, add polenta, salt, thyme and water to the cooker and stir. Set to the porridge cycle. Every 15 minutes during the cycle, open the lid and briskly stir until smooth for 15 seconds. When finished, pour onto a parchment paper lined, olive oiled, rimmed sheet pan and allow to cool. Cut into squares.

Roasted Veggies

1. Prep the veggies onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Massage with olive oil, salt and herbs. Roast at 450 F for 45 minutes. Stir after 30 minutes.

Sauce

1. In a small mixing bowl, stir the sauce ingredients together.

Put the casserole together and bake

1. In a parchment lined, medium casserole: add a thin layer of sauce, then polenta squares, then veggies, then mixed cheeses. Repeat ending with cheese on the top. I made mine with two layers. Be sure and leave plenty of cheese for the top. Cover with foil or a lid and bake at

400 F for 25 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Take the lid or foil off for the last 8 minutes.

Note: You can make the parts ahead and put it together before baking.

Chickpea Polenta Trials

To make the flour, I ground a heaping cup of raw chickpeas, on high speed, in my Vitamix and sifted. You could also use garbanzo flour. I made two trial batches—one on the stove top using the traditional ratio of 4 to 1 water to flour and the other in the rice cooker.

Stove top: I brought four cups of water to the boil, added 1 teaspoon sea salt, dried thyme and whisked in the flour. I took it off the heat and cooked it for three minutes. It was lumpy and slightly raw, so I smoothed it out in the blender and poured it on an oiled baking sheet and let it cool. Chickpea polenta has a mild, delicate taste. It firmed up nicely. I cut into a pizza shaped round, topped it with freshly made pesto and mozzarella and baked it in a hot oven for 10 minutes.

I cooked the other batch in the rice cooker using exactly the same method as for corn polenta. I preferred this method. The polenta tasted fully cooked, plus took less mess and hands-on time. The directions are in the recipe.

Polenta, as we know it, is a thick corn porridge that’s served warm as a mush with gravy, butter and cheese, or a tomato sauce. Or, it’s spread out on a baking dish into a thin layer and cooled. Once cool, it’s cut into pieces and reheated by frying or baking, and served with the same accompaniments.

It’s a staple dish in N. Italy. The Venetians introduced corn from America in the mid-17th century, but in classical Rome, the word polenta meant pearl barley, so making a savory staple porridge goes back into antiquity. In the Balkans, there’s a similar dish called mamaliga. It’s currently made from corn, but they originally made it from millet. In their folk tradition, it took the place of bread, which was considered a luxury. They made it fresh for each meal, turned out onto the clean table as a steaming cupola for everyone to share with sheep’s cheese.

This made me wonder if I could make polenta from chickpea flour? Sure enough, Italians already do it, so I tried, and it was delicious. Like bread, we can make polenta with lots of ingredients, or mix them. Here are a few inspirations: chickpeas, split peas (pease porridge) wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, navy beans, quinoa, amaranth, and buckwheat.

Grind your own flour fresh, a coffee grinder will work, or use pre-ground hot cereals. Any way you make it, polenta is worth exploring.

Roasted Eggplant and Red Pepper Baba Ganoush

Makes 2 cups

Quick with roasting time

I’m in favor of creamy, scoopable appetizers, especially if they also have some sweet, sour and spicy with a hint of toasted cumin. I love pulling out a medley of dips, olives and spreads to have with chopped tomatoes, flatbreads or perhaps some roasted chicken.

Ingredients

For roasting

1.5 pounds eggplant, peeled and cut into a medium dice

2 sweet red chilies or red bell peppers, topped, seeded and cut into a medium dice

2 Anaheim chilies, topped, seeded and cut into a medium dice

6 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 scant teaspoons flaked sea salt, or less fine sea salt

1 teaspoon cumin seed, toasted and ground

For finishing

1 cup Italian parsley, chopped

¼ cup roasted tahini

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, or to taste

½ teaspoon chipotle sauce

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Gather and prep. all ingredients. In a small heavy-bottomed skillet, toast the cumin over a low heat until fragrant and then grind in a spice or coffee grinder.

Mix the eggplant, chilies and garlic together on the baking sheet with the olive oil, cumin and salt. Roast on a middle rack for 20 minutes. With a spatula, mix the vegetables bring the bottom parts to the top. Return to the oven and continue to cook for another 15 to 20 minutes or until soft and sweet with some crisping edges.

With a food processor, pulse the roasted veggies with the tahini, parsley, lemon juice and chipotle sauce. The baba ganoush should be chunky-smooth. Using a rubber spatula, spoon into a serving dish. Taste and correct the flavors with more lemon or salt if needed. Serve warm or at room temperature. Will keep a week refrigerated.

Tunisian Spiced Chickpea and Zucchini Casserole

Recipe In Three Parts

Part One: Slow Cooking The Chickpeas

Ingredients

2 cups dried chickpeas

4 dried New Mexican chilies

5 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon sea salt

Fresh water for soaking and then cooking

Instructions

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight covered by 2 inches of water

2. Next day drain chickpeas, cover with fresh water in a medium pot, bring to the boil straining off any foam, let cook at a high simmer for 10 minutes.

3. In a slow cooker, put dried chilies, garlic, and 1 teaspoon sea salt. Add chickpeas after the 10 minute high simmer.

4. Set slow cooker to high and cook for 4 hours.

Part Two: Roasting The Vegetables

Ingredients

1 ½ lbs (610g) summer squash-yellow is lovely, green is great. Cut in a large square dice

2 medium onions (484g) halved and sliced thin

3 large red sweet peppers (281g) cut into matchsticks

3 tablespoons fresh minced garlic (46g)

2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger (22g)

¼ cup olive oil

Sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450F (232C) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

2. Slice, dice and mince all vegetables--I mince garlic and ginger together in a food processor.

3. Massage olive oil into veggies, sprinkle with salt

4. Roast for 20 minutes, stir and roast another 15 minutes until sweet and melty.

Part Three: Spicy sauce and Finishing

Ingredients

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 ½ teaspoons whole caraway ground

1 teaspoon whole coriander seed ground

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns ground

1 ½ teaspoons sea salt

2 tablespoons high mineral sugar

¼ cup sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon hot chili sauce

Pureed and strained N.M. chilies from chickpea cooking

Instructions

1. Measure out all ground spices

2. Measure and grind all whole spices in a spice grinder and sift through a mesh strainer

3. Puree the chilies from the cooked chickpeas with about a cup of the chickpea water. Put the puree through a food mill into a large bowl

4. Add ground spices, vinegar, sugar, salt, chili sauce to the chili puree

5. In a heavy bottomed pan, I use cast iron, set on medium heat combine the chickpeas, and sauce and reduce until thick, about 6-8 minutes stirring occasionally. The flavors should meld and vinegar’s harshness cook off.

6. Correct chickpeas and sauce for salt. The taste should be a beautiful balance of sweet, spice, heat and sour. Sometimes a bit more salt will bring out the right balance.

7. Layer the saucy chickpeas with the roasted veggies ending with the colorful veggies on the top. Keep warm until served.

Serve with flatbreads, or roasted barley.

Menemen

Chili and tomato sauce with poached eggs and garlicky yogurt

Makes enough for 6 poached eggs

30 minutes if garlicky yogurt is pre-made

A cousin of the Israeli shakshouka, this vibrant egg dish is found everywhere in Turkey, especially in Istanbul, a city that loves its brunch. I like to keep the sauce and poached eggs separate, so I can eat them as little meals on the go.

Ingredients for sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 red onion, peeled, cut in half, into ½-inch slices and cut into 1-inch chunks

4 cloves garlic, minced

14-ounce can of diced tomatoes, or 1 ½ cups fresh diced

¼ cup tomato paste

1 dried ancho chili

1 dried pasilla chili

1 cup boiling water

2 teaspoons flaked sea salt, or 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 tablespoon marjoram, minced

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

6 large eggs, farm are best

garlicky yogurt for serving

Directions

Preheat a large heavy-bottomed skillet with a lid. I like to use cast iron. Pour the boiling water over the dried chilies, making sure they’re submerged and let them soak for 15 minutes. Add the oil to the skillet and saute the onions for 5 minutes on a medium high heat.. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the diced tomato and tomato paste and stir. Add 1 teaspoon of salt. Allow the sauce to cook on medium low, while you prepare the chilies.

Take the chilies out of the water. Remove their tops, open them and briefly rinse their seeds away with water. Don’t rinse away the inner flesh. Add the chilies to a blender, strain the soaking water into the blender and puree until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, add the puree to the sauce. Taste and add the vinegar, marjoram and additional salt as needed.

You can poach the eggs in the sauce, covering with a lid and simmering on a medium low heat for about 6-8 minutes, or until the whites are set, or you can poach the eggs separately and add them to the top of each serving.

Set the garlicky yogurt on the table and let the diners spoon it over their eggs with warm flatbreads.

Ingredients for garlicky yogurt

2 cups plain yogurt, use whole milk organic

½ teaspoon flaked sea salt, or to taste

1 clove garlic, minced

Directions for Garlicky Yogurt

In a small food processor, or with a mortar and pestle, remove the bitter green shoot, grind the garlic and salt together, and then adding the yogurt. The sauce should be smooth. The raw garlic edge will dissipate as it sits, and is best after an hour.