Pumpkin Polenta with Pumpkin-Seed-Sage Pesto

To all my American readers - Happy, Happy Day-Before-Thanksgiving-Dinner Day!!
(And Happy Day Of Vegan Gravy, Number 24!)

No last-minute-dinner-and-turkey-themed post here though. I'm on vacation, hiding out from cooking, food, family and the insane frenzy that accompanies this day way too often.
In fact, the Sprouts and I are in Portland, Oregon, city of all things vegan (including a million places to get vegan gravy made by people more, and possibly less, competent than myself).
I'm POSITIVE you'll hear all about our adventures soon! But until then, stay tuned with this retro-pumpkin post.

This makes a great Pumpkin-themed pre-holiday lunch, it's a nice way to use up that extra little bit of cooked pumpkin left over from Holiday baking, OR it's handy any time you want to impress the non-vegan-socks off someone.

Pesto, once again, is a "sauce", not exactly a "gravy" like you'd put over mashed potatoes, but I promise you, I've actually seen it referred to as "crushed-herb-gravy-sauce" in some of the old, 60's era European cookbooks that I have in my collection.

You can use canned plain pumpkin here if you want, or if you want to use fresh: Bake or microwave a small pumpkin (the sugar-pie type, not the big jack-o-lantern type - or any dense winter squash will work) until soft.

Scoop out squash and mash or puree. Measure out 1/2 cup squash for this recipe:

Crispy Pumpkin Polenta Triangles

1/2 cup squash or pumpkin puree

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons soymilk

1 tablespoon margarine

1/2 tablespoon agave or maple syrup

Salt

1/2 cup polenta cornmeal (or coarse ground cornmeal)

1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for frying

In a medium saucepan, combine the pumpkin with the water and bring to a boil. Add the soymilk, margarine, agave and a generous pinch of salt.

Add the polenta cornmeal in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Cook over low-ish heat, stirring until thickened and cornmeal is cooked - about 20 minutes.

Scrape the polenta into a loaf pan and refrigerate until firm. When firm and chilled, run a knife around the sides of the pan and unmold the polenta. Slice into 1 1/2 -inch squares/rectangles, and then crosswise into triangles;

Fry the triangles in batches, turning once, until deep golden and crisp, about 2 - 5 minutes per side.

Transfer to paper towels or brown paper bag to absorb excess oil and drain. Keep hot in low oven.

Now, make Pumpkin-Seed Sage Pesto to go with:

Pumpkin-Seed and Sage Pesto

3/4 cup lightly packed fresh sage leaves (from 2 large bunches)

3/4 cup raw, hulled pumpkin seeds/raw pepitas (about 4 ounces)

1/4 cup (packed) fresh parsley leaves

1 - 3 garlic cloves

3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil

1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

4 Tbsp raw cashew pieces

squeeze fresh lemon juice

Put cashews in bowl of food processor and blend into a fine powder.

Using on/off turns, blend sage leaves, pumpkin seeds, parsley, and garlic in processor until mixture is finely chopped.

With machine running, add 3/4 cup oil and squeeze of lemon juice and blend until thick paste forms.

Transfer to small bowl; season with salt and pepper. Warm for a few moments in a saucepan. If it gets too thick, add several tbsp. non-dairy milk.

Serve crispy hot polenta triangles with pesto sauce.

As you can see, I had a hard time getting a picture, my kids kept eating the polenta before I had enough to photograph!

Pumpkin Polenta with Sage-Pumpkin-Seed Pesto

It's fall, it's chilly, I'm in a "Pumpkin-y" sort of mood... So I dragged out some ingredients that sounded good and modified a very UNvegan recipe or two for these... Pumpkin Polenta and Sage-Pumpkin-Seed Pesto.

You can use canned plain pumpkin here if you want, or if you want to use fresh: Bake or microwave a small pumpkin (the sugar-pie type, not the big jack-o-lantern type - or any dense winter squash will work) until soft.

Scoop out squash and mash or puree. Measure out 1/2 cup squash for this recipe:

Crispy Pumpkin Polenta Triangles

1/2 cup squash or pumpkin puree

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons soymilk

1 tablespoon margarine

1/2 tablespoon agave or maple syrup

Salt

1/2 cup polenta cornmeal (or coarse ground cornmeal)

1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for frying

In a medium saucepan, combine the pumpkin with the water and bring to a boil. Add the soymilk, margarine, agave and a generous pinch of salt.

Add the polenta cornmeal in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Cook over low-ish heat, stirring until thickened and cornmeal is cooked - about 20 minutes.

Scrape the polenta into a loaf pan and refrigerate until firm. When firm and chilled, run a knife around the sides of the pan and unmold the polenta. Slice into 1 1/2 -inch squares/rectangles, and then crosswise into triangles;

Fry the triangles in batches, turning once, until deep golden and crisp, about 2 - 5 minutes per side.

Transfer to paper towels or brown paper bag to absorb excess oil and drain.

Make Pumpkin-Seed Sage Pesto:

Pumpkin-Seed and Sage Pesto

3/4 cup lightly packed fresh sage leaves (from 2 large bunches)

3/4 cup raw, hulled pumpkin seeds (about 4 ounces)

1/4 cup (packed) fresh parsley leaves

1 - 3 garlic cloves

3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil

1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

4 Tbsp raw cashew pieces

squeeze fresh lemon juice

Put cashews in bowl of food processor and blend into a fine powder.

Using on/off turns, blend sage leaves, pumpkin seeds, parsley, and garlic in processor until mixture is finely chopped.

With machine running, add 3/4 cup oil and squeeze of lemon juice and blend until thick paste forms.

Transfer to small bowl; season with salt and pepper. Warm for a few moments in a saucepan, if too thick, add several Tbsp. soymilk.

Serve crispy hot polenta triangles with pesto sauce.

As you can see, I had a hard time getting a picture, my kids kept eating the polenta before I had enough to photograph!

Ratatouille; The Movie and the Dinner

Well, Monday night, we went to see the newest Pixar creation, "Ratatouille", which, if you've been living under a rock and haven't heard, is an animated movie about a little rat who loves to cook.

I loved it, as did my daughters. And as a vegan, I thought it was great that even with the plot based on a restaurant kitchen, and French food, they only had a couple minor shots of "meat" being cooked... Most of the time, the little rat was busy helping slice zucchini or mince garlic. Pretty cool! In the end, he whips up a dish of ratatouille that steals the show.

So on our way home, my Lil' Sprout asked if ratatouille was a "real" dish (when I was 7, I had never HEARD of ratatouille, and I'm sure I was 27 before I knew how to pronounce it!!) I assured her it was, and amazingly, it was even vegan!

She perked up and asked what was in it. (This is where I knew things could get tricky...) I said "usually um.... eggplant, onions, zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic and basil." She wrinkled up her nose and said "eewww" - but in a rather disappointed sort of way.

Then she asked hopefully "Well, are those things in big chunks or mushed up so you can't see them?" (She knows I'm famous for "hiding" veggies). So I thought about it for a moment and said "Well, usually it's in chunks all cooked together. But I bet I could make some ratatouille that was NOT chunky... would you like that?"

Of course she would! She's pretty willing to try new things, but there are a few veggies she just does not like if they're "chunky". You have to admit, eggplant isn't a favorite with a lot of people so I can't argue there... It just figures - she'd try something because a little cartoon rat made it look good! Bless their little animated hearts if they get a kid eating eggplant, I say!!

So I took my basic ratatouille recipe and prepared the veggies as I always do (oven roasting the tomatoes, pepper, onion, garlic and eggplant). Then I pureed the roasted veggies into a thick (and heavenly!!) sauce. I mixed in the fresh herbs, garbanzos, and sauteed zucchini (fortunately Lil' Sprout LOVES those!!). Since it was thick and sauce-like, I served it with crispy pan-fried polenta slices. And it was a HUGE HIT! (eggplant, bell peppers and all...)

My oldest Sprout came home from work and ate the rest of the (non-chunky) ratatouille cold out of the pan. "Awesome pasta sauce, Mom!!" She's right. It would make awesome pasta sauce.

Roasted Veggie Ratatouille

1 lb eggplant, 1/2-inch dice
1/4 tsp salt
1 lb zucchini, chopped coarsely
1 red bell pepper, chopped coarsely
1 Walla Walla sweet onion, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup organic extra virgin olive oil
1 lb Roma tomatoes, chopped coarsely

1/2 cup low sodium tomato sauce

2 TB red wine or 1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 TB (or more) minced fresh garlic
3 TB (or more) minced fresh oregano

3 TB minced fresh basil
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 cup cooked garbanzo beans
3 oz capers, (good for "adult food" but my kids hate 'em!)
Preheat oven to 400°F.

Dice eggplant first. Combine with salt, set aside in a colander to drain. Prepare remaining ingredients.

Rinse eggplant. Combine eggplant, tomatoes, onion and bell pepper, with olive oil. Place in roasting pan. Bake 45 minutes or until veggies are soft and starting to brown, stir once during cooking.

Meanwhile saute zucchini in a small bit of olive oil until tender crisp. Add garlic, wine, tomato sauce, pepper, garbanzos and fresh herbs. Keep warm at low simmer until roasted veggies are done.

**(I pureed the roasted veggies at this point - they were so rich and aromatic, I may do this more often!!)

Combine roasted veggies with zucchini mixture and serve with crusty bread.