Roasted Tomato and Polenta Perfection

We had a bunch of leftover herbs from the tofu meal, so we decided a pesto dish was in order. We oven-roasted mini tomatoes and pan-fried polenta to make a delightfully delicious dinner that was sweet and tangy, smooth and crispy. This meal tantalizes all your taste buds.


Polenta with Oven-Roasted Tomato and Pesto

Pesto is a great way to use up extra herbs. You can combine any herbs with any type of nut, a bit of cheese, garlic, salt, and pepper with some olive oil in a food processor and create a fantastic pesto. I didn't put any (or many) ingredient amounts because we just used what we had. Simply test your pesto out to make sure it has the right combination of flavors.

1 package mini tomatoes (approximately 2 cups)
olive oil
salt and pepper
basil
parsley
2 cloves garlic
1 handful walnuts
Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
olive oil
1 package polenta

1. Preheat oven to 300. On a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil, place all of the tomatoes. Coat tomatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste. Bake in the oven for 2 hours until soft and caramelized.
2. In a food processor, combine basil, parsley, garlic, walnuts, cheese, salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil through the spout as the food processor is running until desired consistency of pesto has been reached.
3. In a nonstick skillet, heat 1 Tbs. olive oil over medium heat. Add the package of polenta, breaking polenta into pieces. Saute until the polenta has become crisp and slightly browned on the outside.
4. Plate by placing the polenta on the plate, top with tomatoes, and dollop with pesto. Enjoy!