Grilled Eggplant and Pesto Polenta Stack
1/4 cup pesto sauce
1 jar vegan marinara sauce
1 large eggplant
salt
olive oil
fresh ground pepper
2 cups water
1 cup coarse yellow cornmeal
1. Make the pesto sauce ahead of time.
2. Pour marinara sauce into a medium saucepan. Keep warm over low heat, covered, until ready to use.
3. Heat grill and broiler.
4. Slice eggplant into 1/2 inch thick rounds. If desired, salt eggplant and set aside for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, rinse eggplant and pat dry. Generously brush each slice with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Place on grill and cook for 5-7 minutes on each side. Keep brushing with olive oil while eggplant is cooking.
5. In the meantime, bring water to a boil. Add cornmeal and bring down to a simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Stir in the pesto and cook for another minute. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Place polenta in an 8×8 or slightly bigger baking dish, smooth top. Broil until golden. Set aside to cool. Then slice into squares.
6. To serve, start with one eggplant slice. Cover it with marinara sauce. Place a polenta slice on top and cover it with some more marinara sauce. Repeat. Garnish with fresh basil.
This is a perfect gourmet meal for any special occasion.
That looks SO good. I love eggplant. If I made it, it would have to be for a special occasion (my hubby doesn’t like eggplant…I’d have to tell him to go out so I can have a dinner party or something!).
Jen
Funny. My mom loves eggplant. Ironically, it’s one of the few foods my dad doesn’t like. Fortunately, I love it as much as she does, so she’d make it just for the two of us sometimes. Eggplant and okra were our “special” foods. Does Declan like it ?
He does like it. He’s kind of a weird kid…he likes a lot of foods most kids don’t like!
Jen
That’s great ! It makes it a lot easier to eat healthy as a family. A lot of kids these days just want to eat chicken nuggets and fries.