Roasted Tomato, Onion and Mushroom Pie or The Daring Cooks’ August, 2012 Challenge: Cornmeal

There's so much you can do with cornmeal, Rachael of Pizzarossa was our August 2012 Daring Cook hostess and she challenged us to broaden our knowledge of cornmeal! Rachael provided us with some amazing recipes and encouraged us to hunt down other cornmeal recipes that we’d never tried before – opening our eyes to literally 100s of cuisines and 1000s of new-to-us recipes!

I was late doing the challenge and fell back on a tried and true family favorite. I have called it a pie even though there is no pastry

Roasted Tomato, Onion and Mushroom Pie with Herb Salsa.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped basil
1 large onion
5 roma tomatoes
4 or so mushrooms

4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup polenta
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup grated cheddar

Salsa

1/4 red capsicum
1/2 lebanese cucumber
2 ripe roma tomatoes
3 green spring onions
1 cup chopped fresh coriander
1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup chopped basil or 2 tablespoons basil paste
1/4 cup thai sweet chilli sauce
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper

Mix the oil and basil together and pour into the base of an oven proof dish.
Cut the onion into 12 wedges. Spread the onion over the oil.

Cut the tomatoes in half and spread over the top of the onion.
Fill the holes with the mushrooms.

Roast at 150 ° Celsius for 60 minutes.

Bring 4 cups of vegetable stock to a rolling boil and stir in 1 cup of cornmeal. Keep stirring until the mixture thickens.
Add 1/4 cup grated parmesan, 1 teaspoon white pepper and 1 teaspoon of salt

Spoon over the roasted vegetables and top with the grated cheddar.

Place under a hot grill until the cheese is bubbly and golden.
 

Finely chop all the herbs, cucumber, tomatoes, capsicum. Mix with the sweet chilli sauce and vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste and refrigerate until required

 

Cut into 1/4's and turn out onto the serving plates and top with a large spoonful of the salsa.