Skip to main content

Grilled Polenta with Heirloom Tomatoes and Pounded Anchovy Sauce

Seattle summers are our best-kept secret—with long, lovely days just hot enough to make you want to stay out of the kitchen and linger outside. The perfect appetizer for a patio barbecue, grilled polenta is easy, crisp, and luscious, and is played to its best advantage when topped with juicy heirloom tomatoes brightened with garlic and anchovy. If you like, substitute basil or another favorite tender herb for the mint. This would also be nice served with a handful of baby greens on the plate.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    serves 4

Ingredients

6 anchovy fillets, with a splash of their oil
1/2 clove garlic
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
10 fresh mint leaves
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 to 1 1/2 pounds sweet, ripe heirloom tomatoes (roughly 1 tomato per person)
1/2 recipe Firm Polenta (page 67), chilled

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat the grill on high.

    Step 2

    With a mortar and pestle, pound together the anchovies, splash of anchovy oil, garlic, pinch of salt, and mint into a paste. Add the lemon juice and continue to blend with the pestle, then dribble in the olive oil. Stir to combine.

    Step 3

    Core the tomatoes, cut into thin wedges, and divide among 8 plates. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

    Step 4

    Grill the polenta for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until the wedges show grill marks and are heated through. Place 1 polenta wedge next to the tomatoes on each plate and drizzle with the anchovy sauce. Serve while the polenta is hot.

Ethan Stowell's New Italian Kitchen
Read More
Like spicy carrot rigatoni and weeknight-fancy ravioli with peas.
Like “absolutely decadent” chocolate pudding and fattoush salad.
Turn humble onions into this thrifty yet luxe pasta dinner.
This one-pot dinner cooks chicken thighs directly on top of a bed of flavorful cilantro rice studded with black beans for a complete dinner.
Keep this easy frittata recipe on hand for quick breakfasts, impressive brunches, and fridge clean-out meals.
A warmly spiced Ashkenazi charoset, perfect for your Passover seder—or spooned over yogurt the next morning.
Crispy, Parmesan-crusted cutlets make this spring dish sing.
A feel-good dinner designed to cram a ton of veg in each serving.