Birthday Bites

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I’m back, as promised, with more sweets to share, but first, I have an actual dinner item!  As per my dad’s request, I made polenta for his birthday dinner, closely resembling a polenta dish I made a few months ago.  This time, I changed the spices a bit, added some new toppings, and fancied up the presentation.

Polenta

1 cup polenta

3 cups water

1 tbsp fresh dill, chopped

1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped (or 1 tsp dried)

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Adornments

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 large vidalia onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

2 red bell peppers, sliced into spears

salt and pepper, to taste

whole basil leaves to garnish

Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan, then slowly stir in polenta to avoid clumping.  Pour in herbs, and continue to stir over medium heat for about 30 minutes, or until polenta has softened.  Pour the polenta into an 8×8 baking dish, spread out evenly, and place in refrigerator to cool.

Once cool, remove polenta from the refrigerator and cut into shaped of your choice.  I chose triangles, but rectangles, squares, even hearts or stars if you’re feeling really creative, would work equally as well, I’m sure.

Now it’s time to fire up the grill, or stovetop grill pan, in my case.  Brush both sides of your polenta with olive oil, and grill on each side for about 5 minutes, or until crispy.  While you’re grilling the polenta, it would only make sense to grill the peppers, as well, so spray the pan with non-stick spray, and throw the pepper on for a few minutes on each side.  If you don’t have a stovetop grill, and don’t want to venture outside, you can just as easily pan fry the polenta and saute the peppers in a bit of olive oil.  You may want to preheat the oven to a low setting, just to keep everything warm while you’re preparing the rest of the meal.

This may seem a tad hectic, but i assure you I was able to accomplish all of these tasks at once.  While your polenta and peppers are grilling, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat, then add onions and stir every few minutes for about 20 minutes, or until onions have caramelized.  After about 15 minutes, add garlic and mushroom, and continue to stir, using additional olive oil if necessary.  Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

At this point, everything should be ready to eat, so plate the polenta however you please.  I chose to stack my components, but you can serve everything individually or even make little polenta sandwiches, as I originally planned to do, but never quite got around to.

Now, on to what else but dessert? Namely chocolate.

My mom, like the rest of my family, loves chocolate, so for her birthday, chocolate is what the got.  I used Brynna’s vegan sponge cake recipe (which is fluffly and delicious, just like a non-vegan sponge), and baked it in two 9-inch round cake pans, then spread a mixture of strawberry and raspberry jam along with sliced strawberries and raspberries between the layers, and covered it all in a chocolate buttercream frosting.  As for the final touches, more berries and chocolate shavings on top.

Chocolate Buttercream Frostins

Ingredients

1/2 cup )1 stick) non-hydrogenated margarine, softened

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening

3 cup confectioner’s sugar

1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp chocolate extract

1/4 cup soymilk

Cream together margarine and shortening until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Carefully pour in confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder, and beat until well combined and crumbly looking.  Finally, add soymilk and extracts, and beat another 5 to 7 minutes, until light and airy.

I had to restrain myself from eating this whole batch of frosting before it hit the cake; I was lucky I had enough left to decorate!

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Tags: Baking, berries, cake, chocolate, Cooking, Polenta, recipes