Angie's Polenta Bites

Angie's recipe was originally developed for her picky eater Sissy, but I love polenta and this seemed like a fun snack to have around all the time! Below is the original recipe from Angie's cooking blog!

Since I used broccoli AND cauliflower rice, there was more moisture in my batch so my baking time took a lot longer, about 40 minutes. But it still tasted damn good so it was worth the wait!

Broccoli Polenta Bites

Serves 4 - 6

prep time 15 minutes (+ 2 hours to chill) 

Cook time 15 minutes

1 cup polenta (I'm a big fan of Colavita Instant Polenta)

2 cups low sodium chicken stock

1.5 cups water

4 cups finely chopped broccoli (can be replaced with spinach, asparagus or kale)

olive oil

parchment paper

11 cup Pyrex (7.4” x 9.2” x 2.7” deep)

Wash and finely chop your broccoli, add 2 cups of stock and one and a half cups of water to a medium pot, lightly salt and bring to a boil, add your broccoli and let boil for about 3 minutes. Using a whisk, slowly pour in your polenta while stirring constantly to avoid clumps. Once all your polenta is in, switch to a wooden spoon and lower the heat. Stir for about 5 - 7 minutes and remove pot from heat and allow it to sit for 5 minutes. Drizzle pan lightly with olive oil and spread to coat, pour your polenta into the pan and using a spatula or wooden spoon press it down and even, polenta should be about 1” thick. Cover and place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours. 

Preheat oven to 400

Once the polenta is firm, cut it into 8ths, creating little bite size  “fingers.” Next place parchment paper on a baking sheet and lay polenta squares an inch apart, bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden. 

In the original recipe, Angie also has a homemade style dipping sauce! I didn't have time to make this so I just dipped mine into a Paul Newman spaghetti sauce and it was still good!

Can't wait to take this to work tomorrow and be the envy of all my co-workers. WAHAHAHA.

Pizza Style Dipping Sauce

prep time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 20oz Jar of Passata or pureed tomatoes

1 tsp fresh oregano

1 tsp olive oil

salt & pepper

Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in a medium saucepan, add garlic and saute on low for 4 minutes. Next add your passata or pureed tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes. Add oregano, salt, and pepper and reduce heat, cooking for about 20 minutes.