Unleash Some Spiced-Up Love With Layers of Leftovers

     "Lookie what I’ve got," I said to Trina, brandishing my brand new tube of ready-made polenta.

         Blank look from Trina. "What the hell is that?"

          "You’ve never had polenta?" I said. "OK, guess not. It's an Italian thing, made of cornmeal. Um....it's like a cornmeal-type crust, only it’s soft. Like something between a crust and lasagna noodle. See, the package says 'an alternative to pasta'."

From Trobee: "Why the frick would you want an alternative to pasta?"

Hm.

Anyway, I had cooked up a lasagna-like polenta dish a few years back. The polenta was easy to make from scratch, simply adding cornmeal to boiling water, but involved constant stirring at the stovetop for like 45 minutes. Never got around to making it since. (Would instant dough do it for me?) I was having NC visions with the ingredients at hand. We had leftover Ruby Kulambu Sauce in the fridge....leftover G-Spot Shrooms....

            Ok....I am thinking now that I should come up with a new word for 'leftovers'. One reserved for Indian-spiced food. Any ideas? The word 'leftovers' implies a sad, has-been of a meal. Droopy, faded, dried up, bland. An obligation to 'finish off'.

           Not so with so many Indian spiced creations. (If you haven't discovered it yet, discover it now.) Indeed, when spices are charging up a meal, flavors intensify -- and often taste better the next day. It’s very cool how that works. Sometimes we double a recipe so that we have extras on hand to play with the next day or even later in the week.

          An instant magic-meal – can’t beat that.

RECIPE B-R-E-A-K-D-O-W-N

"You know, Court," Trobee said after a recent paste-making session, "you should really add something to our 'Garlic Paste Post'."

"Oh? What's that."

"Be sure and tell Our People that whizzing garlic cloves up in the coffee grinder is way easier when you do a bunch at a time. Otherwise the cloves just don’t get pureed proper if you only have a few in there. See?" She showed me. Indeed. Yes.

"Ok, I’ll make a note of that."

And yes, it’s ok if the garlic paste turns green in the fridge. Promise. Tell all your friends.

*     *     *

One favorite item to make extra for future re-creation  is our Ruby Kulambu Sauce (one of our first posts). It’s just so versatile, pairing up so well with so many other things, as a pasta sauce, pizza sauces, draped over veggies or chicken...

G-Spot Shrooms (so-named because we had wanted to demonstrate the simple wonder that is ginger-garlic paste) are always a welcome addition. So easy, so good.

Because so many folks google on how to make a paste, it is our most often-read post. 

…and the flavor truly has a G-Spot effect. Promise.

Course, you may not be in a mushroom mood. or, like brother Chase, you dare to hate mushrooms altogether. For this dish, any ingredient you would add to a pizza or lasagna will work splendid. Frozen or leftover veggies, browned sausage, tomato slices, pepperoni...

Go wild.

*     *     *

"Trina, can you think of anything about the polenta tube that Our People should know about? I mean, how thick did you slice it? Were there any tricks to it? Things they should notice?"

Trina thought a minute. "1/2 an inch ," she said with resolution. "You can’t cut it too thin or it will fall apart."

Think of each slice as a fat cookie?, I proposed.

"Yeah, that's pretty good."

And one more thing: She didn’t use the creased ends of the polenta log because according to her, they’re kinda' ugly.

See what kind of valuable inside information you get from us at the NC?

*     *     *

As happy, warm aromas swirled from the stove, Trobee cranked up the volume on the stereo and danced about in anticipation.

Then it was time.

From Trobee: "CHECK...THESE....OUT!"

From Trina: "Yeah, Court. This one is definitely a keeper!"

Needless to say, there were no leftovers.

photos by Trina

Shout out to Ana Lopez of Medellin, Colombia for the top-of-the-post pic, 'Ingredientes'. Check out the other cool pics at her online gallery here.

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Baked Polenta-Curry Love Bundles

• 1 tube of ready-made polenta (18 oz.)
• 1 recipe of our Ruby Kulambu Sauce
• 1 recipe of our G-Spot Shrooms
• 1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
• optional: shredded cheese
• dried parsley flakes or other herbs

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

1) Slice the polenta into 1/2-inch rounds.
2) Arrange them onto a 9x12 baking dish. Top with a glob of cottage cheese, followed by a scoop of G-spot Shrooms.
3) Cover with Ruby Kulambu sauce. If you're using shredded cheese, cover the top with the cheese... As much as you like. If you have dried or fresh herbs, add them now. (We used dried cilantro flakes for the photo.)
4) Bake for 30-40 minutes. Done.