Eggplant, polenta, tomato sauce and???

[salubriousbunny]

So, since I never had time to get my slow cooker chicken going this AM, I am going to have to whip something up fast right now.

I'm curious for recipe ideas before I just go at here.

I've got a small fresh eggplant, 2 roma tomatoes, pre-cooked polenta (tube), fresh italian herbs (growing outside), and a couple of nummy pre-made organic tomato sauces - like four cheese, garlic primavera. And Australian cheddar and Parmesan cheeses.

It dawns on me that I also have canned artichokes on hand that I never used up.

I also have some g-f lasagna noodles, but I don't know how complicated I want this to get.

Any suggestions???

p.s. I'm gluten-free and soy-free. Thanks!

 

[Bilby]

Why not flour and pan fry the eggplant slices and layer the roma tomatoes through the dish, make a white sauce (if you have rice flour or g-f flour) and top with the two cheeses grated. Bake in oven till cheese melts. Sort of a parmigiana. If you can't do the white sauce, use the tomato sauce and cream instead. (oh and if you can't flour the eggplant, don't worry about it but still fry them off.)

Not sure about the tube of polenta - haven't seen that here.

 

[Wyogal]

slice the eggplant, polenta, grill; layer with the tomato, serve with a bit of sauce and garnish with the cheese and fresh herbs

 

[Bilby]

Another thought - rip the pasta sheets into long strips a la parpadelle and serve with a ragu of eggplant cubes, tomato chunks and artichoke quarters, using the tomato sauce as the binder and serve with some grated parmesan.

 

[salubriousbunny]

thanks! these all sound good! i think since i'm in a hurry, i'm going to go with Bibly's 2nd option, but i think i'll do the 1st another time when I have a minute. (I can make g-f white sauce, I just haven't done it a lot yet).

Thanks again! I'm off to cook now! =)

 

[Bilby]

Glad to help! If you have some olives, you may want to chuck them into the mix as well. Fetta cubes are another thing you can add. When I do this sort of pasta dish, I check the fridge for all those little bits that I can throw in and clean my fridge out at the same time. Spinach leaves are a good one to chuck in too!

 

[salubriousbunny]

OK, actually I ended up pulling ideas from all three. I have a two-year old, and he really likes eating "big" things and getting to practice with his (safety) knife. So, I took the Tomato Basil Genovese sauce, added fresh oregano, and threw in the quartered artichokes, after cutting them in half. Threw in a little parm and cheddar for extra flavor.

In a large cast iron, I pan-fried slices of eggplant and polenta (which I really was trying to use up - I do pasta all the time) in some olive-oil, salting them with some really awesome Himalyan pink sea salt. I stacked the polenta on top of the eggplant in the pan, then topped with some of the sauce, then shredded cheeses, then the other slice of eggplant, then more sauce, then more cheese. They made kind of mini-pizzas (to my son's eyes), and were DELICIOUS!!!

He ate a lot, and so did I. And from start to finish (putting away leftovers), I was done in 30 mins!

Thanks for your tips!