Pan-Fried Polenta with Tomatoes & Olives

📝 Ingredients

• 120 g instant polenta (quick-cook)
• ½ vegetable stock cube + 480 ml water
• 1 tsp herbes de Provence
• 250 g cherry tomatoes
• 40 g pitted black olives, drained
• 40 g rocket
• 30 g pumpkin seeds
• 2 tbsp olive oil (1 for the tomatoes, 1 for the polenta)
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Saucepan
• Whisk
• Dish of about 20 × 15 cm and baking paper
• Large non-stick frying pan
• Spatula

📖 Steps

1. The day before, line the dish with baking paper. In the saucepan, bring the 480 ml water to the boil with the crumbled half stock cube and the herbes de Provence.
2. Reduce to a medium heat and pour in the polenta in a steady stream, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Cook, stirring, for the time shown on the packet (1 to 5 min), until very thick and coming away from the sides. Watch out for hot splatters.
3. Immediately pour the polenta into the dish and smooth it with a wet spatula to a thickness of 1.5 to 2 cm. Leave to cool for 15 min, cover and refrigerate for at least 3 h, ideally overnight: it needs to be firm to slice without crumbling.
4. In the morning, turn out the polenta and cut it into 6 rectangles. Dry-toast the pumpkin seeds in the frying pan over medium heat for 2 to 3 min, until they puff up and crackle, then set aside in a bowl.
5. In the same pan, heat 1 tbsp oil over a medium-high heat. Add the whole cherry tomatoes, season with salt and cook for 5 to 6 min, shaking the pan, until the skins burst and brown. Add the olives for 1 min to warm them through, then set everything aside.
6. Wipe out the pan, heat the last spoonful of oil over a medium-high heat and add the polenta slices, spaced apart. Cook for 4 to 5 min per side without touching them, until a golden crust forms: turned too soon, they stick.
7. Arrange the rocket on plates, add the golden polenta slices, then the tomatoes and olives with their cooking juices. Sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds, season with pepper and serve immediately.