Polenta pancakes

Today felt like it went FOREVER! I guess post-half marathon tiredness will do that to a girl. My legs are feeling a lot better than yesterday, however, and I am sure they will be back to normal tomorrow.

The Mystery Box provided much needed inspiration for dinner tonight. The selected ingredient….cornmeal!

        

Now normally I would use cornmeal (or polenta….I think they are the same thing?) as a base to a stew, or baked into cornbread, but I was feeling adventurous this evening and wanted to try something new.

Enter…Polenta Pancakes! Served with tomato vegetables and spinach.

First I made a tomato and vegetable sauce, using garlic, onions, tinned tomatoes, mushrooms, cauliflower, capsicum and carrot.

Seasoned with dried thyme and oregano.

And simmered for 40 minutes or so until the vegetables were tender and the sauce had thickened.

Now onto the star of the show……..polenta pancakes!

I made the batter out of polenta, baking powder, milk, butter and eggs.

With a cup of corn and peas stirred through, together with whipped egg whites.

 

Then cooked just like a pancake.

 

Topped with spinach and the tomato vegetable sauce.

   

This was a really tasty dish. The pancakes stayed a little crunchy (due to the polenta) but were also quite light and fluffy.

They were a little dry in parts, but the moist tomato vegetables helped that.

 

Polenta Pancakes

Ingredients (make 4 large pancakes)

• 1 cup polenta / cornmeal
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 40g butter, melted
• 1 cup skim milk
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup frozen peas and corn

Method

1. Mix dry ingredients.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks, butter and milk. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well.

3. Stir through peas and corn. Gently fold through whipped egg whites and mix until the batter is smooth.

4. Heat frypan and add a little spray oil. Cook pancakes in batches, until browned and cooked through.

5. Serve topped with spinach and tomato vegetables.

Did you know? Cornmeal is a form of coarsely ground corn, and is often referred to as polenta when ground into a finer form. It is useful for those people who have to avoid wheat in their diet, is low in fat and has long-lasting carbohydrates, fibre, vitamins and minerals.

What about you? Do you like savoury pancakes? Do you have a favourite flavour combination?

Happy baking :)