"polenta pile-up" inspiration

Don't you just love it when you're blog hopping and get hit with some sort of inspiration to create? 

You know, you see a piece of art, some awesome photographs, a piece of hand made jewelry or some from scratch food and you are actually stirred to action and motivated to do something?

Such was the case last week when reading Alicia Paulson's blog.  I love reading her blog...it makes me feel like I'm sitting in one of her cozy chairs listening to her stories.  I have to admit that, not being a knitter, my eyes totally glaze over when reading about knitting instructions, but her cooking stories and doggie stories have me laughing and sometimes crying.  She definitely has the ability to draw her readers into her life...what a gift...truly.

So, last week, I'm reading her entry about her friend creating a lunch with something she called "polenta pile-up" which consisted of chunks of polenta, roasted eggplant and fresh Parmesan.  Remember the Parmesan days?  Well, there was still a chunk of fresh stuff in the fridge...and there was polenta in my pantry...just needed the eggplant and the fresh basil.  After looking at the photo, I started craving the combo so much that I went out in the rain on a busy Friday afternoon to buy what I needed.

Not even a power outage at Trader Joe's (which meant the store was closed down) interfered with my mission.  I sat in boatloads of traffic, waiting for the police officer to direct me through the non-working traffic light, and drove to the nearest grocery store.  Eggplant was easy to find but fresh basil...not so much.  I knew they had to have fresh basil...I mean, why would they carry large bags of watercress (how many people use watercress, anyway!) and not have basil?  Since I couldn't find anyone working in produce, I went to the Deli manager...fortunately for me, she had hunted for basil earlier that day and was able to direct me to it immediately.  Anyway, mission accomplished!

I took a little different direction than the polenta pile up as pictured and made a layered casserole in individual gratin dishes...the layering consisted of polenta, followed by a layer of roasted and seasoned eggplant, fresh basil, tomato sauce and grated Parm.   I baked it until bubbly and served it with fabulous salmon grilled by hubby.  Can I just say lip smacking good?

So, thanks Alicia for the polenta inspiration!  It's definitely going into our book of family recipes!

Any inspirations that have come your way recently by way of someone's blog?

Comments

[shabbyVTchic]

I've been lurking here for several months now :)

I, too, LOVE Alicia's blog... there is just something so very comforting about it. I know exactly what you mean about sitting in a cozy chair of hers!

[Lyn Meeker]

Now I have to hunt down the recipe! .. DH and DS will love it! (Plus our eggplant has started growing again...)

[paige]

always love inspiration from carolyn peeler & rebecca sowers blog. i enjoyed my visit to yours today too!
merry christmas carol!
xo

[linda t]

Oh ya, have to get cozy with Posie everyday or I go through withdrawal! Her posts either make me laugh, or cry.
I am getting so much inspiration from other bloggers this time of year because of all their awesome recipes! Got a real good recipe for Peanut Butter balls from Teresa (from Silver Bella)
http://teresamcfayden.typepad.com/minutia/ Yumo!