Book 119 | Great Chefs of the Caribbean | Parmesan Basket with Polenta and Roasted Vegetables

Edited by Julia M. Pitkin

This was fun to make, and it was tasty too!

I have seen a few recipes for making Parmesan baskets, and have been wanting to do this for some time. 

And it is super easy! All you do is, take some grated cheese, place it on a baking sheet in a circular shape and bake until the cheese has fused itself together. Then take the melted cheese and place it over a bowl or cup to shape it. Instead of transferring the melted cheese by way of spatula to the bowl, I just cut the parchment paper between the cheese rounds, and placed the bowl on top of the cheese and flipped it over. Much easier. Not to mention, these babies are greasy, and the parchment paper keeps your hands grease-free while shaping them around the bowl.

I wanted a bit more color to the bowls, but I was afraid if I let them cook longer, they might have disintegrated.

This is supposed to be tomato sauce, to be placed in a squeeze bottle to drizzle on the plate. I ended up transferring it to the food processor and adding some vegetable broth and water (and a bit of cayenne to spice things up) to thin it out. As for the pesto oil, that turned out quite thick as well, more like pesto, then oil - also to be used for drizzling. 

Is there anyone who doesn't like roasted vegetables? You really can't go wrong with roasted veggies. I did not roast the tomatoes, I added them after, and placed the vegetables back in the turned-off oven, just to warm them up.

I love polenta, and felt it should have a decent amount underneath all those vegetables. Apparently the amount I thought was perfect, was more than the recipe called for. I halved the recipe, which should serve two, and I used almost all of the polenta for this one bowl. Their round of polenta must have been pretty thin. Good thing I was dining solo this evening!

This made for a tasty light dinner; it would even be good sans the basket, if you don't want to go to the trouble of making them. Speaking of the basket, it was a bit on the chewy side - I was expecting it to be crisp. I did read that if too much cheese is used, the baskets can turn out chewy - so there you go.

I'm confused as to where the Caribbean influence is in this dish. Must be the polenta. When I think Caribbean food, I think of rum, mango, coconut, rice, and foods with a spicy kick. Not that it really matters much, I enjoyed this just the same.

Roasted Vegetable Quesadillas

Recipe from Moosewood Restaurant: New Classics

Much to my surprise, I found that I have not shared this recipe with you. I went to the search box of my blog to view the recipe for the ingredients so I could stop off at the store on my way home from work and it was not there! How could I keep this to myself for so long? I have made this several times, and always say to myself that I must share this recipe.

Well, now is the time.

This is a delicious, healthy, and quick dinner to prepare, even on a weeknight. The recipe is easily adaptable to your likes or dislikes, or to what you may have on hand. What vegetable does not taste irresistible roasted and sprinkled with cheese? Oh, and a little Sriracha Sauce if you, like me, like things spicy.

Success meter (1-3): 3 

I was going to add the extra cherry tomatoes that I had leftover from this recipe as well and forgot. That's OK. I'll add them to these leftovers to make what I hope is an awesome omelette tomorrow morning.

Yep, these are tasty.