A Tale of Two Dinners

Veggie Polenta Stacks

For multiple reasons this carnivorous family of mine has been eating more vegetarian meals lately. I won't ever pretend that we are vegetarians and we are far removed from being vegans, we enjoy eggs, butter, ice cream, and seafood way too much!  None-the-less, I have discovered that a simple reprogramming of the grey matter does wonders for seeing the potential of a vegetarian diet. 

The other night it was my turn to cook so I created a meal based on what we already had in the fridge. I called the main dish Veggie Polenta Stacks and I served the stacks with sea scallops and a mixed green salad and homemade lemon vinaigrette dressing.

To make the Veggie Polenta Stacks either purchase polenta or make your own.  I made my own with veggie broth, and adding in fresh basil, red pepper flakes, some hot chili powder, and Parmesan cheese for added flavor.  I spread the cooked polenta in an even layer on a cookie sheet to cool.

I buttered 6 large individual ramekins and then I layered thinly sliced Japanese eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, salt and pepper in the ramekin topping the veggies with a layer of cooled polenta cut to size.  I baked it at 350 until the concoction was hot and the cheese was gooey. To serve I tipped the ramekins upside down on the plate and the I topped the stack with some homemade pesto.  If I do it again, I would probably use feta cheese and not use zucchini as it was too watery.

I cooked the scallops in a mixture of butter, olive oil and garlic and threw in a bit of white wine when they were almost done. The secret of good sea scallops to "press" the liquid out of the scallops for several hours or over night.  Use paper towels and a heavy plate so that they are dry. This allows them to sear and  get that gorgeous brown color when cooking while staying nice and moist inside.  If you don't do this the scallops simmer in their juices and just aren't as good.  Try this trick.  It is so worth it!

On night two my dear husband looked at me with his adorable eyes and suggested that maybe we should consider putting some steak on the barbecue. How could I resist?

We made a simple meal. Salt and pepper on some rib-eye steaks, grilled medium rare, thinly sliced and served on a bed of mixed greens that were dressed with the lemon vinaigrette I had made the  night before. Over all this a good handful of crumbled blue cheese.  Dinner was served with a glass of Cabernet.   We all started drooling and before I knew it the meal was over and we didn't think to take a picture of all the lovely red meat stacked on the green lettuce.  Awe, the memories...

Although we are attempting to increase the amount of fruits an vegetables that we eat, we are along way from being vegetarians but I'm thinking the occasional dinner of red meat won't hurt any of us!