Polenta cake with anything goes salad

Serves:

Ingredients

• 1L chicken stock
• 1 cup instant polenta
• 60g freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 3 slices prosciutto
• 1 avocado, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup cooked peas
• 2 soft-boiled eggs
• 4 handfuls mixed lettuce leaves
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Use leftover polenta from Tomatoey chipolatas with polenta or make as below.

Butter a 1-2L round casserole dish. Place eggs in a small saucepan of water, bring to the boil and cook for 3 minutes for a runny yolk. Drain and when eggs are cool enough to handle, peel and halve.

Bring the stock to the boil in a saucepan. Slowly add polenta, whisking until all added. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and stir constantly for a further 8-10 minutes or until the polenta is cooked (the texture of mashed potato). Remove from heat and stir in parmesan. Pour polenta into casserole dish and smooth the top. Leave to cool to room temperature, cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Turn polenta cake onto a board and brush with olive oil. Heat a grill or chargrill pan to high heat, brush oil over polenta and cook for about 8-10 minutes on each side until crisp and heated through.

Remove to a plate and cut into wedges. Cook the polenta in the frypan, about 2 minutes each side until crisp.

Combine avocado, peas, lettuce and prosciutto pieces in a bowl. To make dressing, place vinegar, oil, salt and pepper to taste in a small screw-top jar, shake to combine. Pour over salad and toss well.

Serve polenta topped with half a soft-boiled egg and a pile of salad.

Serving Suggestions

Note

• Yes, this recipe has Leftover Night written all over it! And a very tasty meal it was too. The salad was created after a systematic clearing out of the fridge, ‘hmm, a bit of avocado, leftover prosciutto, ooh some goat’s cheese (sniffs), eww, in the bin. Maybe some frozen peas, wish I had some asparagus, oh and there are some eggs’. A simple green salad would do!
• Recipe created by Melissa Hughes for Kidspot.