summer polenta bowl
not letting go of summer yet!
My beige flag is that I live in one of the most culinary exciting cities in the world, yet I almost never go out to eat.
That’s right - New York City, baby.
People are always asking me recommendations of where to eat or what I think of so and so place. Being a food person, these are reasonable questions. Yet, my answers are often unsatisfactory. “Where to eat” is often met with list of my fav easy bites in my neighborhood (and I’ll even venture to Manhattan for all of my YESBABE meetings at Coppelia, a 24-hour Cuban diner in Chelsea). “What I think of so and so place” is often met with “ummmm, I haven’t been…”
The truth is, I love eating at home.
Maybe it’s because growing up, eating out was reserved for special occasions, and only at the tried and true neighborhood spots (actually, I just revisited an old-school Italian spot we used to go to with my dad last week). I’m fortunate enough to say that my mom was an amazing cook and dinners together were considered sacred family time. Dining together every night at home was the original Sobremesa for me.
But I think it’s always been part of me. I remember being 8 yrs old and insisting on packing my own lunch - a habit I continued throughout high school when all of my other friends were going off-campus for slices of pizza and Chipotle burritos. By then, even though I had my own spending money from working, I really would just rather eat my tuna fish salad, Dunkaroos from Costco, and granny smith apple with peanut butter. It just hit right.
In my 20s, I went on to open A Baked Joint with my family in D.C. We designed the cafe menu after staples my mom cooked growing up, such as the Meatloaf Sammie and Teresa’s pizza ….because we were really thinking of things we wanted to eat all the time. And it worked, because rather than cooking myself, I actually just started eating all my meals there. Lucky for me, as the hours were so long in those early years and I rarely had time to shop or cook for myself.
When I moved to NYC in January 2020, we can all guess what kept me at home a few months later. I can really attribute this time to rooting down and re-committing to cooking. If you remember wayyyy back to this wild time, getting groceries in the epicenter of the virus, was not for the faint of heart. I would dream up what I wanted to cook and meal plan for an entire week so I could do one big grocery shop per week. It was exciting and creatively stimulating to take what I had in my fridge and strive to make it as delicious as the NYC restaurant experiences I was now missing out on and also the homey meals I was missing in DC. I actually started this very newsletter that year as a way to put my learnings out there for others.
And, 4.5 years in NYC later, while I’m certainly free to go out and experience all that NYC has to offer, I would still rather cook at home. Sure I love to grab my bites in the neighborhood from time to time, but seriously going out is a still a special occasion. Why? To put it simply, I just love what I cook! I’m not by ANY stretch saying that my food is better than any NYC restaurant, but MY food makes me FEEL god. I still love the creative thrill of coming up with something yummy to eat in my own house, even if it’s just for a party of one.
Bonus : I love saving money and I love how my belly feels from a home-cooked meal. ….Things I can’t say I get from eating out.
One of my favorite things to make is a BOWL. I love a one-stop-shop for delicious bites to cohabitate. It’s a great way to throw random bits from your fridge, because I should also mention that I *hate* wasting food.
Last week, I made this polenta bowl.
I usually save polenta for the winter time, as it’s a heartier base, but I had a bevy of summer veggies from the farmer’s market about to go bad in my fridge. It felt the perfect bed to rest their heads.
This recipe was a result of me seeing what’s in my fridge (including a bit of pesto left in a jar), putting on a good playlist, and seeing what happened.
Alas, the SUMMER POLENTA BOWL! An ode to Summer’s end.
Something to note: this recipe has a lotttt of components. If you’re not comfortable multi-tasking, just take it one step at a time. Everything here will be delish room temp, or you can quickly reheat in the oven.
As always, I recommend to take your time! Enjoy the process! Go off-recipe! Throw some random veggie scraps in there! Get wild! I certainly did with this one!
With polenta as a base, start getting excited for how you can “fall” it up. I suggest crispy roasted mushrooms or caramelized wild carrots, to name a few.
summer polenta bowl
serves 2, cooking time is about 1 hour
Ingredients:
1 cup polenta, I love this quick recipe by Love and Lemons, but add a spoonful of miso in the water before boiling
1 head cauliflower
1 pinch turmeric, 1 pinch paprika
2 filets of salmon, I used wild sockeye
Salmon marinate: 1 tablespoon miso paste, 2 tablespoon honey, 1/4 cup shoyu or soy sauce, 1 tsp minced garlic
1 scoop pesto
3 stems of kale
1 red onion
2 ears of fresh corn
Make it!
Set your oven to 425 degrees.
Meanwhile, prep your veggies: de-stem your cauliflower and break into small florets. Remove outer skin of red onion and slice into quarters.
De-stem kale and massage with a little olive oil and salt. Set aside.
De-husk the corn ears and set aside.
Put the cauliflower and red onion on a sheet pan and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Add the turmeric and paprika to the cauliflower and toss.
Prepare the salmon filets: create a small bowl of of salmon marinate (see ingredients above). Place your salmon filets on a sheet pan, and top with about 3/4 of the marinate. Set the remaining marinate aside to use later.
Roast in the oven until veggies are softened and start to crisp up. Toss in the pan so they become evenly cooked. Sorry….but I don’t use timers…..but I think this was about 15 mins. Add the kale to the pan.
Check on the kale in 5 mins, we want these crispy but they can burn quickly! You can remove kale from the oven and set aside if they are ready before the veggies.
Veggies are finished when they are softened and have a bit of crisp. Set aside. Toss the cauliflower in pesto (if you have it already, which I did!)
Make the polenta. I love this recipe by Love & Lemons because it’s quick and easy. I added more depth but adding miso paste to the water before boiling. I then finished with 2 tablespoons butter and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese.
Add the salmon filets to the oven and bake for about 5 mins. Cooking time will depend on the type of salmon you got - for example wild is leaner so will be less looking time whereas farm-raised is fattier and will take longer. Then add remainder of marinate on top to cook for the last few minutes. Salmon is finish when it easily flakes with a fork.
Make the corn: if you have a gas stovetop, you can blister these straight on an open low flame, rotating around for about 5 mins. This is kinda hardcore so if this makes you nervous, I suggest you boil them instead for about 5 mins.
Assemble!!
In your bowl, add the polenta. Then, artfully top with your cauliflower, red onion, and corn. Add the salmon in the middle and pour any extra marinate from the pan right back over the bowl. Top with the kale chips.
Enjoy these last days of summer, y’all.
Besos,
Tessa