Creamy Polenta with Crispy Beets + Pesto



This is one of my first time's playing with the mandolin. It makes me nervous, because it's incredibly sharp, but it did a lovely job of slicing these beets paper thin. I will be experimenting with some more recipes that require mandolin slicing in the future.

Recipe from With Food and Love.

Ingredients:
-3 tablespoons olive oil
-1 large shallot, finely minced
-2 cups polenta
-6 cups water
-sea salt + pepper, to taste
-6 tablespoon pesto
-Fresh dill
-2 medium sized beets, sliced with a mandolin
-olive spray

Preheat the oven to 350. spread the beets out onto a pan lined with parchment paper. Spray with the olive oil spray then season with salt and pepper. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crispy, you'll want to keep an eye on them near the end of the cook time to prevent them from burning.


You can use whatever type of beet you'd like, I love these candy cane beets.




While the beets cook heat the olive oil in a large pot. Saute the minced shallot in the olive oil until translucent. Then add in the water and bring to a boil. Slowly stir in the polenta, while continuously stirring. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cover. You'll want to simmer until the polenta is creamy, probably about 10-15 minutes. Season the polenta with salt and pepper.

Stir a little fresh dill into your pesto and serve the pesto + beet chips on top of a heaping bowl of polenta. 

This was a fun dinner, the color contrast between all of the ingredients made this fun to eat. The dill went nicely with the beets and the pesto helped to add another layer of flavor to the dish. The best bites had all of the ingredients in them, if you stir the pesto into your polenta, it helps to better incorporate everything.

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