herbed polenta chips & pesto broccoli trees

Polenta chips are a recent delicious discovery of mine and Grace loves them!  I’m one happy mama serving these up to bub because they’re a far healthier alternative to potato chips and far simpler to prepare, no laborious peeling required!  YAY!

When making polenta chips I always use instant polenta that cooks in 2-3 minutes in a pot of boiling chicken or vegetable stock.   Simply bring a pot of stock to the boil, add the polenta in a slow steady stream whisking continuously, and stir over heat for 3 minutes then you’re ready to add some seriously delicious flavour that will have the kids (big and small) gobbling them up!

Today I spiked the creamy polenta with the zest of a lemon, a knob of butter, a generous handful of grated parmesan and sprinkling of freshly picked parsley, thyme, oregano and basil.

I then spooned the polenta mixture into a lined cake tin and pressed down lightly to smooth the top before placing the mixture into the fridge to help it set a little faster.  After fifteen minutes of chilling I sliced the set polenta into big fat chips, placed them on a baking tray and grilled for five minutes until wonderfully golden, caramelised and crispy.

These polenta chips are wonderful and designed perfectly for tiny hands and tiny mouths.  Grace was able to grip them easily and gnawed away with a total look of joy sprawled across her face as she fed herself.  Little miss independent already.  I also blanched some broccoli ‘trees’ for her and drizzled over a little basil pesto that she happily munched on, turning her hands and face a wonderful shade of ‘Kermit the frog’ green!

I added a couple of chips to my salad for lunch and was so in love with the lemon zest and beautifully fresh herbs, they really provided a lovely lightness to the chippies and evoked a sense of smugness over creating ‘healthy chips’.  Enjoy!

Herbed Polenta Chips

Serves 2 adults and 1 child (as a side dish)

Freezer friendly: Before the grilling stage, place the chips in a freezer container/bag and stash in the deep freeze, will happily keep for 3 months.  To serve, simply thaw the chips and grill for 5 to 10 minutes.  Enjoy.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups of reduced-salt chicken or vegetable stock

1 cup instant polenta

1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons fresh herbs, chopped (I used basil, parsley, oregano and thyme)

½ cup parmesan, grated

1 lemon, zested

1 tablespoon olive oil

METHOD

Place stock into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Turn heat down to a simmer and gradually whisk in polenta.  Stir for 2–3 minutes or until thickened.

Remove from heat and stir through butter, herbs, parmesan and zest.  Pour into a 26cm x 16cm baking tin lined with baking paper.  Chill for 15 minutes or until set.  (The mixture doesn’t have to be completely cooled, it simply needs to be set enough that you can cut into chips.)

Preheat grill to high.  Cut polenta into fingers and place on baking tray lined with baking paper.  Lightly drizzle with olive oil. Grill chips for 5 minutes or until crispy. Serve hot with pesto broccoli trees.

Pesto Broccoli Trees

INGREDIENTS

1 head of broccoli, cut into florets

2 tablespoons basil pesto

METHOD

Place broccoli in a medium heat proof bowl and cover with boiled water.  Allow to stand for 5 minutes then drain.  Return to bowl, add pesto and stir to combine.  Serve pesto broccoli trees warm or pop into lunch box.