Cherry Tomatoes with Fresh Herbs over Pressure Cooker Polenta

Cherry Tomatoes with Fresh Herbs Served over

Pressure Cooker Polenta

 No, these sweet beasties did not get any cooked tomatoes with herbs served over polenta.  However, the one on the far right in the photo is the biggest tomato thief in the history of all dogs!  If I allow her into the garden with me she will walk right up to the tomato plant and pick off the juiciest reddest most ripe tomato in the whole garden.  And then she'll help herself to the next one.  Almost as bad as a gopher but much much cuter!

Tonight we had the easiest and most lovely summer dish... Sauteed cherry toms with fresh herbs.  Easy peasy.

Sauteed Cherry Toms

with Fresh Herbs

List of ingredients:

 -  About 2 cups of cherry tomatoes (red or orange), rinsed and stems pulled off

 -  1 or more tablespoons of olive oil

 - 1/2 cup or more chopped fresh herbs (I used mint, basil, and parsley)

 - salt and pepper

1.  Put the olive oil in the saute' pan and heat over low.

2.  Add the cherry toms and cook until they begin to burst and split apart.

3.  Add the fresh herbs and stir to incorporate.  Add some salt and pepper.

4.  Serve immediately over warm polenta. (See polenta recipe below)

 Here's the pan of orange and red cherry tomatoes with olive oil and salt cooking over low heat while I get the polenta started.

A pile of fresh herbs to be chopped and added to the tomatoes near the end of cooking time. Mint, basil, and parsley. I usually buy my mint at the Farmer's market and I always have some left over.  I used the extra mint in an amazing super green smoothie with watermelon, strawberries, almond milk, cashews, parsley, cucumber, and kale.  This is a smoothie you will love!

Pressure Cooker Polenta

(from "Recipes from an Ecological Kitchen" by Lorna J. Sass)

List of ingredients:

 - 4 1/2 cups water

 - 1 teaspoon salt

 - 1 cup yellow corn grits

 - 1 tablespoon olive oil

 - 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary or Italian herbs

1.  Bring the water and salt to boil in the cooker.  Gradually sprinkle in the corn grits while stirring with a long handled spoon.  Stir in the oil and herbs.

2.  Lock the lid into place and bring to high pressure.  Lower the heat enough to maintain high pressure and cook for 5 minutes.  Allow the pressure to come down naturally for 10 minutes or so.  Quick release any remaining pressure.  Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow any excess steam to escape.

3.  Stir the polenta well to incorporate any liquid on top.  You can continue to cook and stir if it is too watery.

4.  Serve polenta in bowls with cherry tom mixture dumped on top.

Now, listen, some of you are afraid of using a Pressure Cooker... I was too and I have even have a bad pressure cooker experience in my old tiny little kitchen in the Seabright house.  There were yellow split peas decorating my entire kitchen - all the cabinets, the counters, the sink, the frig.  It was awful and a total mess to clean up and I had a new born baby at the time so I was totally absolutely sleep deprived (which may have been the reason I had the pressure cooker issue?????)  At that point I decided to spend the money and buy a good well made reliable pressure cooker and I have never looked back.  If you love to make soups, stock, polenta, grain, or risotto you really need to get yourself one of these fine kitchen tools!

If you want to make polenta the traditional way, please feel free to do that, as well.  The cherry tomato dish could be served over pasta or rice but it is pretty freakin' amazing over polenta.  Well worth it!

We had the cherry tom saute' over polenta with a side of baked yam and a bowl of Potage St. Germaine soup ( lettuce and pea soup - yep - lettuce and pea amazing soup!)

Totally delicious!

 And the labs were perfectly content with the fact that they didn't get any polenta.  Really. (not)