"Real Food Recipe": Polenta with Black Beans and Spinach (Vegan!)

This is one of our favorite dishes to have since we've changed how we eat. I'm so proud to say: I made it up myself!!! We love it and Jason loves to go on and on about how "nearly perfect" it is nutritionally. He's developed some strange hobbies like visiting nutritional info sites. :) I always keep all the stuff for this on hand for emergencies like if there's a big snow or we forgot to plan what's for dinner or whatever.


So . . . the cast of characters:



That's two tubes of premade polenta.  Two cans black beans.  One can diced tomatoes (in the summer we use fresh tomatoes from the garden).  One onion.  Garlic (ideally you would use, you know, actual cloves of garlic...minced). Cumin. Tabasco.  Oh . . . and spinach.  Oops, I guess that's not in the picture.  Darn it!  Well, picture a bag of baby spinach up there in the corner.  I keep frozen spinach in the freezer for when we might need to use our "emergency rations" for this meal.  We've also used kale.  Because I use canned beans and tomatoes, I don't typically add salt to the recipe but do whatever you like.

We prefer the store bought polenta for this recipe.  It just looks prettier and the firmer texture is nice.  The price isn't my favorite but we just got Trader Joe's and their polenta prices are much friendlier.  I've made my own polenta a couple of times but it takes quite awhile and the texture just isn't the same.  Still tastes good, though.  Just mushier.  Like grits.

Alrighty, so what do you do?

Well, I like to preheat my griddle (on high) while I slice up the polenta.  Maybe about 1/2" thick?  I counted and each roll I got 15 slices:




Then I spritzed my griddle with some olive oil and threw those rounds on there:

Don't be afraid to turn up the heat.  My griddle is pushing 400 degrees. If you don't have a griddle, I've also made these in a regular ol' pan on the stove (you just obviously can't do as many at once) or you can bake them in the oven. 

While the first side starts browning, I dice about half a cup of onion and open my cans, drain just a bit of liquid off the beans and throw that all into a pot.  Top it with a tablespoon of garlic (we like garlic) and a teaspoon of cumin and I usually do half a teaspoon of Tabasco.  I a wimp when it comes to spice.  Jason always puts extra on his later. 


Get that all stirred and heating up nicely:



Then throw in a bunch of spinach.  It'll wilt.  A lot.  I did 3 big handfuls:



Give it a stir and throw the lid on for a bit:




This is usually around when I flip the polenta rounds over as well:



Before too long the spinach will be wilted and the polenta will be nicely browned and you can stick it on a plate.  Here's the vegan variety:



And here's how I like mine with cheese, sour cream and avocado:



Looks kinda fancy, no?




Okay, I don't know how to make a fancy recipe card thing for my blog but I'll type the recipe out here:


Polenta with Black Beans and Spinach
2 cans black beans, drained slightly
2 tubes polenta, sliced 1/2" thick
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 Tbsp. garlic, minced
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 - 1 tsp. Tabasco (or to taste)
3 handfuls baby spinach


Brown polenta on a lightly oiled griddle or pan or in your oven.  Meanwhile, in a saucepan over medium heat, mix together beans, tomatoes, onion, garlic, cumin, and Tabasco.  Stir and bring to a simmer.  Flip over the polenta to brown the other side.  Add spinach to saucepan, stir, and cover to allow the spinach to wilt a bit.  Serve over the browned polenta rounds.