Polenta Leaves with Zucchini Mille-Feuille and Coriander Fondue

           This week, as I wrote a post about “Trilogy of mushrooms”, I mentioned that I managed to get (quite in a mysterious way) a book featuring vegetarian dishes served at one Indian five-star hotel chain. As I said, the book – or, to be more precisely, simply a huge (more that 400 pages) magazine – is full of mouth-watering dishes. The only problem is – they are vegetarian. So my husband didn’t quite share my overwhelming excitement on getting this source of amazing recipes (when I try to serve vegetarian meal at home, he protests: “Honey, is there a widespread famine? Where is meat?!”) 

            Luckily, one of these days we had our piscaterian friends for dinner. Since I made quite a decent range of seafood starters, I felt that I had the right to prepare a vegetarian main course. My choice was a dish that struck me most when I looked through the book: beetroot and haricot layered zucchini mille fuille with polenta leaves and parsley fondue. I had to change beans for green peas and to substitute parsley with coriander (as I didn’t have the necessary ingredients in the fridge) but overall the dish looked exactly as on the photo from the book. To say true, it turned out to be decisively simple: it actually took me two hours to prepare it (there are quite a lot of elements that go on the plate!) but, needless to say, it was worth it. Even my husband who, to put it mildly, is not a big fan of polenta, finished it off in a few minutes!

            Now I’m waiting for another opportunity to cook a new dish from my “Vegetarian fare” book!

Recipe adapted from the original one by Asish Roy

Polenta leaves

100 gm polenta

300 ml milk

300 ml vegetable stock

1 tbsp butter

4 tbsp parmesan, grated

2 tbsp olive oil

Zucchini layers

100 gm yellow zucchini, cut into 12 rounds

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and black pepper to taste

Beetroot ragout

1 tsp butter

1 tsp onion, finely chopped

1 small beetroot, boiled and diced

1 tsp thyme

1 tbsp mascarpone

½ tbsp mozzarella, grated

Salt and black pepper to taste

Green pea ragout

1 tsp butter

1 tsp onion, finely chopped

100 gm fresh green peas

1 tsp mint

1 tbsp mascarpone

½ tbsp mozzarella, grated

Salt and black pepper to taste

Angel-hair vegetables

1 tsp carrot, finely shredded

1 tsp yellow zucchini, finely shredded

1 tsp green zucchini, finely shredded

1 tsp red bell pepper, finely shredded

1 tsp yellow bell pepper, finely shredded

2 tsp milk

flour for dusting

50 ml oil

Coriander fondue

50 gm coriander

100 ml cream

Salt and black pepper to taste

Garnish

4 cherry tomatoes

A few mint leaves

 

Method:

1. For polenta leaves, take a 20x20cm tin, line it with foil and slightly grease it. In a saucepan, bring milk together with the stock to a boil. Pour in polenta in a steady stream, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat, add butter and parmesan and mix well. Using a palette knife, spread the polenta mixture in a prepared tin. Let it set, then remove from the tin and use a leave-shaped cutter to make 16 leaves. Heat oil in a pan over high heat and fry the polenta leaves till golden brown on both sides.
2. For zucchini layers, season the rounds with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a pan and shallow-fry them on both sides.
3. For beetroot ragout, heat butter in a pan and sauté the onion. Add the diced beetroot and thyme. Mix well, remove from heat and add mascarpone. Let it cool slightly, then stir in the mozzarella. Season to taste.
4. For green pea ragout, heat butter in a pan and sauté the onion. Add the peas and mint. Cook for a few minutes, remove from heat and add mascarpone. Let it cool slightly, then stir in the mozzarella. Season to taste.
5. For angel hair vegetables, soak the shredded vegetables in milk for 10 – 15 minutes, drain and pat-dry. Dust with flour and deep-fry till golden brown.
6. For coriander fondue, blanch coriander, puree it with the cream, then push the mixture through a fine sieve. Season to taste.
7. For presentation, take a round mould and place it on the centre of a serving plate; layer with a zucchini slice, a spoonful of beetroot ragout, another zucchini slice, a spoonful of green pea ragout and top with the third zucchini slice. Carefully remove the mould. Top the mille-feuille with angel-hair vegetables, a cherry tomato and mint leaves. Arrange four polenta leaves around and drizzle with coriander fondue. Repeat to make three more serves.