Roasted Fennel Tapenade and Polenta Cucumber Bites

INGREDIENTS

ROASTED FENNEL:

• 180g fennel, sliced
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• a dash of dried basil
• a dash of dried rosemary
• salt and pepper to taste

Olive Tapenade:

• 100g green olives, pitted 
• 100g kalamata olives, pitted
• 50g whole sweet peppadew peppers
• ½ ounce sprouted almonds
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon capers
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon dried basil
• pepper to taste

Cucumber Bites:

• 1 batch of Fennel Roasted Tapenade
• ½ cup of uncooked polenta
• 1 ½ cups of water
• ½ teaspoon dried basil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cucumber, peeled and sliced
• some cherry tomatoes, halved
• roasted yellow peppers, sliced
• parsley

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle the olive oil on the fennel, season with the dashes and tastes. Roast for 30 minutes. Once they’re done, dice the pieces.
2. Toss all the ingredients in a food process. Process! Don’t over-process or it’ll become tapenade mush and no one like tapenade mush…as much as tapenade.
3. Bring your water to a boil in a small pot. Slowly add the polenta and the seasonings and stir, stir, stir for like 15 minutes or so. Once it’s thickened, transfer it to a cookie sheet or some dish and press it evenly into the pan. Let it sit until it sets.
4. I used a mini jar to cut my polenta circles but a cookie cutter would be 1000 times smarter. So do that. Make some polenta disks, put them on the cucumber slices, top with about 10g (a heaping amount, in other words) of tapenade. Add whatever additional toppings you desire. Finish with a sprig of parsley for fancy-pants-ness.

https://quicheaweek.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/roasted-fennel-tapenade-and-polenta-cucumber-bites/