A friend recently lent me the book
“When Elephants Weep” by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, which describes the emotional lives of animals. My friend believed it was important for me to read it because I have a parrot and she read in the book that parrots are the animals that get the most depressed. Of course she lent me this book after I left Pretty (my parrot) at her house for 9 days while I was away. The book became difficult for me to read as they refer to the experiences of live animals and a lot of them are quite sad. But the thing that really got to me is the fact that I love animals, especially my bird, and here we are eating things like duck and lamb (yes, Pretty eats them too). I remember being at my grand-mother’s farm in France and all the cows had their own cute names. We treat our pets as our own but then don’t think twice about eating a good leg of lamb. Despite the fact that I don’t eat a lot of meat, I still do sometimes, but will cut down even more now and restrict it to mostly fish and seafood. I know fish have feelings too, I own
“Finding Nemo”.
Being that I was in this ‘meatless spirit’ last night, I decided to make ratatouille (still haven’t seen the movie though) over polenta and want to share this easy recipe with you. I love polenta! I can put almost anything on it. Polenta is simply yellow corn meal and I love it served soft or grilled. It’s so easy to prepare, super cheap and can be used instead of pasta or rice, which is perfect for people with gluten intolerance.
You can prepare polenta ahead of time, then cut it into squares or diamond shapes and store it in the fridge in a covered container. When you’re ready to eat it, simply grill under the broiler or heat in a non-stick pan with cooking spray or you can even warm it in the microwave. Otherwise, serve right after its prepared and top with almost anything saucy, like chili, lentils or even just a fresh fruit salsa.
Polenta
1 cup coarse or medium yellow cornmeal
4 cup vegetable or chicken broth/bouillon
1 crushed garlic clove
½ tsp dried basil (use fresh if available)
½ tsp dried parsley (use fresh if available)
In a medium sauce pan, over medium heat, warm broth and slowly add the polenta while stirring with a plastic spatula. Add herbs and garlic and continue stirring for about 5 minutes or until large crater like bubbles splash. Cover and set aside while preparing the ratatouille or pour into an 8 x 8 baking pan allowing it to solidify until ready to serve, then cut in large squares and grill before topping it with the ratatouille.
Ratatouille
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion
1 medium eggplant
2 small zucchini
2 small yellow squash
1 bell pepper
2-3 crushed garlic cloves
2-3 large tomatoes or 1 cup of chunky tomato sauce/canned chopped tomatoes
1 tsp each dried parsley and basil
Salt and pepper to taste
Wash all vegetables. Cut eggplant into 1 inch cubes and microwave for 3-5 minutes on high until soft. Meanwhile, cut other vegetables into bite size pieces. Heat oil in a large skillet, cook onions over medium high heat until brown then add squash, peppers and zucchini while stirring and making sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the skillet. Once eggplant is soft, add to the skillet along with garlic, herbs and seasoning. If you have “Herbes de Provence” available, put a teaspoon in at this time. Finally add chopped tomatoes or sauce and mix well then taste and adjust seasoning. The ratatouille should be wet but not juicy. If it’s too thin, just continue stirring until the sauce thickens.
Serve over hot polenta, top with fresh herbs and maybe a little parmesan cheese.
I hope you love it as much as Pretty did (she’s going meatless too)!
- Josee
Labels: Diet, fruits and vegetables, grocery shopping, Healthy Cooking, healthy eating, Healthy Recipes, Josee
