Carrot and Pepper Stew with Polenta

This is a nice and spicy stew which complements the flavours of the polenta well. You should be able to find polenta in most large supermarkets, it might be called fine corn meal though.
 

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp sunflower oil
• 2 sticks celery, finely sliced
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 4 carrots, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
• 1 sweet pepper, seeds removed and cut into thin strips
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 200g polenta
• 600ml warm water
• 30g (vegetarian) Parmigiana (style) cheese, grated

 

Method:

1. Fry the celery, onion and chilli powder in the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat.
2. When the onion starts to soften add the carrots, sweet pepper and tinned tomatoes.
3. Bring to a simmer and then reduce the heat so that it's slowly bubbling away. Stir every 5 minutes or so to make sure it's not burning.
4. In a separate pan put the polenta and warm water and mix well until it's all disolved.
5. Bring the polenta to a simmer over a medium heat, stiring every minute or so.
6. Once the polenta starts to bubble turn the heat down to low under it and carry on stirring it every minute or so. Be sure to stir the bottom of the pan well otherwise it'll stick and burn on.
7. Cook the polenta like this for 10 minutes. It should start to thicken up to the consistency of thick mashed potato.
8. Remove the polenta from the heat, stir in the grated cheese and season with black pepper if desired.
9. Everything should be ready to eat now, so divide the polenta between two plates and then put the tomato stew on the plates. Doing it this way prevents the underside of the polenta from soaking up too much of the stew before the plate is served.

 
Serves 2.