Want something different for dinner tonight?
About a month ago, I came across this new pantry stock item that I found in our local grocery store. It was on sale so I stocked up. For those of you who have never had polenta before, and don’t know how to make it, it’s probably worth purchasing it already made. I should warn you though, that nothing is quite like home made, so it you’d rather go this route, then instead of buying ready made polenta, go ahead and purchase a bag of cornmeal and follow the cooking instructions on the package.
Polenta is essentially cornmeal (more refined than grits) and it is cooked longer and moulded into small loaves or logs. Typically in Italian culture, its smothered with tomato sauce and cheese, or its made with sauteed ground sausage meat and onions.
This Baked Chicken and Asparagus over Polenta recipe is a even a little easier than that. If you purchase the pre-cooked polenta, it will come in log that looks like this:
Ingredients:
- 1 – 900 g package of cooked polenta
- 5 boneless chicken breasts
- 1-1.5 cups of prepared tomato sauce (use home made if you have it)
- 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
- a dozen asparagus spears
- 3 tbsp of Olive Oil
- One large onion
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- 3 tbsp of grated parmiggiano cheese
Directions:
Baked Chicken and Asparagus over Polenta takes only a few minutes to prepare. Take the plastic wrapping off the log and slice into 1/2″ thick slices. Add a couple tablespoons of tomato sauce to the bottom of a deep casserole dish and then place the polenta slices on top of the layer of sauce.
In a separate frying pan, sautee the onions and garlic (remove), and in the same pan, brown the chicken breasts on both sides. Salt and pepper the chicken breasts to your taste.
Place the chicken and the onions on the polenta layer and then layer raw asparagus on top of the chicken. Pour the remaining sauce over the asparagus and chicken and sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese.
Cover and cook in a preheated (375 degree) oven for a half hour. Remove the lid and brown under the broiler for five minutes at the end of the cook.
Remove the Baked Chicken and Asparagus over Polenta from the oven and let stand for minimum five minutes before serving
Test chicken to see if done, (always recommended).
I hope you enjoyed this recipe and that you try it and let me know how it turns out for you. Please leave a comment in the section below.
Bye for now!