Creamy Polenta Bowl with Meatballs and Veggies
Creamy polenta refined with ricotta cream cheese, served with Mediterranean stir-fried vegetables and oven-baked meatballs. For a meatless version, just swap out the meatballs for store-bought, vegan meatballs.
Kochutensilien
- 1 baking tray lined with parchment paper
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 medium-sized ice-cream-scoop optional
- 1 large, coated pan
- 1 small saucepan with lid
Zutaten
Ingredients for the meatballs*
- 400 g 95% lean ground beef ~14 oz
- 30 g oat flour ~⅓ cup (alternatively 30g of breadcrumbs)
- 2 small to medium-sized eggs
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley dried, frozen or fresh
- salt, pepper
Ingredients for the Mediterranean Stir-Fried Vegetables
- 2 small eggplants **
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- salt
- 1 shallot
- 1 teaspoon coconut blossom sugar (or brown sugar)
- 300 g cherry tomatoes ~10.5 oz
- 270 g crushed tomatoes ~9.5 oz
- 2 springs fresh thyme
- pepper
Ingredients for the Creamy Polenta
- 470-490 ml water ~2 cups
- 100 g polenta semolina ~⅔ cups
- 2.5 tablespoon polenta cream cheese
- salt
Anleitungen
Meatballs
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F convection (or 200°C/400°F if you don’t have a convection oven). Knead or mix all ingredients for the meatballs with your hands or a spoon to a homogeneous mass.
- Form 18 equal-sized meatballs with a diameter of about 5 cm or 2 inches and place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes.
Vegetables and Polenta
- Meanwhile, wash the eggplants, cut them into quarters lengthwise and then cut them into thin strips. Heat the oil in a skillet, sauté the eggplant for about 5 minutes. Then salt them generously and fry for another 3 to 4 minutes. At the same time, bring the water for the polenta to a boil.
- Meanwhile, wash the tomatoes and celery, peel the shallot. Cut celery in half lengthwise and finely dice it, also finely dice the shallot, and add both to the pan. Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat a bit and stir in the polenta, let it boil for a few seconds, then remove form the stove. Leave to stand for 6 to 10 minutes with the lid closed, stirring occasionally.
- Halve the tomatoes and add them to the pan as well, sauté for about 2 minutes before reducing the heat to medium and adding the sugar. Give it a stir and let it caramelize for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Now reduce the heat to low, add the crushed tomatoes and let it simmer on low for 3-5minutes. Wash and pluck the leaves of the thyme and add it to the pan, season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve
- Stir the ricotta into the polenta and season with salt to taste. If needed add a splash of milk to make it even creamier. Divide the vegetables and the polenta between to bowls and serve each with five or six meatballs on top. Allow the remaining meatballs to cool before transferring them in an air-tight container and store them in the fridge.
Notizen
*Use store-brought vegan meatballs for a meatless version and prepare them according to the package instruction.
**Instead of eggplant, you can use zucchini; celery can be omitted if desired. Furthermore, other vegetables can be added depending on preferences and availability.
*** You can also use dried thyme instead of fresh one.
If you like to make this recipe ahead of time to meal prep it for the week, I recommend to just preparing the meatballs and veggies. The polenta tastes best when it’s made fresh. But since you just need less than 10 minutes to do so, this should not be a problem.
Nutritional values per serving:
- calories: 547 kcal
- fats: 14 g
- carbohydrates: 60 g
- proteins: 39 g
Nährwerte
Calories: 547kcal
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