Creamy Grilled Polenta with Basil "Pesto"

So last week E and I got a little creative in the kitchen after I saw this recipe for grilled polenta online that we modified slightly (http://epi.us/jJ2PUV). Prior to this I'd never had polenta before and was pretty curious as to what it tasted like / how it would turn out sans grill. It wasn't as crispy as it could have been, but it was creamy and delicious in its own right. We started out by making our own pesto-type sauce (3/4 olive oil, fresh basil, garlic, sea salt and pepper - see photo below) and brushed this onto the pre-made polenta I purchased at Trader Joe's (I love TJ's. For reals). We then heated up a skillet and went to town. The recipe suggested cooking each side for ~10 minutes - we got a little impatient with the second side but nevermind that. After taking the polenta circles out of the pan we topped them with  our "pesto" and some goat cheese crumbles. We ate our new creation with baked tilapia (also from TJ's) and each of us had a veggie of our choice (me, oven-roasted balsamic asparagus. E had baby carrots) and dug in. The whole meal worked really well together and I'm so happy we went out on the culinary limb - it was well worth the risk! We ended up making the other half on the George Forman grill and it worked out pretty much the same - I don't know if I'd recommend stove top over the GF (the latter certainly was less to clean up). Let me know if any of you try this recipe - I definitely recommend!


Love,
Chef T

Pretty simple with the pre-made polenta

Pesto Sauce - super easy

E's dinner - polenta was the best part!