Marinated Grilled Vegetables & Grilled Green Polenta

Grilled Green Polenta

• 3 T honey
• 3/4 T kosher salt
• 1 1/2 c instant fine cornmeal
• 4 scallions, just the greens
• 1 bunch Italian parsley, stemmed
• 1 c baby spinach
• 1 c baby arugula (optional)
• 1/4 c olive oil
• Pecorino Romano

Madonna del Piatto Grilled Lemon and Garlic Marinated Eggplant and Zucchini (note: marinating takes a few hours)

• 2 eggplants, thinly sliced
• 2 zucchini, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• juice of 2 lemons
• 4 T olive oil
• 2 T chopped parsley (or basil)
• sea salt

Stack eggplant and zucchini in batches on a plate making no more than two layers. Microwave the eggplant for 2 minutes at power level 7 until it just starts getting moist and tender. Place the olive oil, garlic and lemon juice in shallow casserole to make a marinade. Grill the slices on the BBQ or in a grill pan without oiling them. That way, you’ll have no smoke.

As soon as the slices are cooked through and slightly charred, dip them briefly in the marinade, then stack them on a plate. When all the slices have been grilled and dipped, return them to the covered casserole to marinate for a few hours. Serve at room temperature. Season with sea salt, and sprinkle with parsley just before serving.

Final notes:

• Credit for heavily inspiring these recipes go to Mario Batali and the wonderful Madonna del Piatto.
• Jittery Cook (moi-même) takes full credit for combining the two recipes. Hope you like!
• Most commas are courtesy of my dear friend, Harriet Sugar Miller. It seems that the poltergeist in me that cooks and writes is too spent to figure out where commas belong–amongst other grammatical oversights. Congratulations to Harriet for her second well researched Huff Post article.
• I apologize for the length of this post. That’s what happens when you join two recipes to create a new taste sensation!