Smoky Shrimp and Parmesan-Polenta Cakes

A few months ago, my local Big Box Retailer cleaned up its image. Aisles were moved around and widened, new signage was installed, new carts were brought in and new foods were introduced. A month or so after the transformation, which only slightly lessened my overall aversion I have to the store, I found a tube of polenta in the refrigerated goods section near the produce. I snatched it up, fearful someone else might have their eye on it. I took it home and it sat in my fridge for a few weeks until I decided to do this cooking thing. I knew it had to be used so I found two polenta recipes to try out. Tonight was one of them.

Smoky Shrimp and Parmesan-Polenta Cakes

Yield 4 servings

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika
1 17-ounce tube polenta, cut into 8 (1/2-inch) slices
Cooking spray
8 teaspoons marinara sauce
8 teaspoons grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley


1. Preheat broiler.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until done, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in wine, chives, juice, and paprika, tossing to coat. Keep warm.
3. Place polenta slices on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Top each slice with 1 teaspoon sauce and 1 teaspoon cheese; broil 3 minutes or until cheese melts. Place 2 polenta slices on each of 4 plates; top each serving evenly with shrimp mixture. Sprinkle with parsley.

Looks pretty, but wasn't too tasty

I think my problem is that I'm just not familiar enough with polenta to do it right, even though I went by the directions and cooked this dish exactly as it says. I didn't like it, but I don't think it was just the polenta that did me in. It was the fact that with the marinara sauce and shredded parmesan, the polenta tasted like spaghetti minus the noodles. The shrimp were good, but I think I over did it on the smoked paprika. Oops. I was not a fan. I really wanted this dish to work but it clearly didn't. I guess it could be an appetizer, because it's certainly not big enough to be an entree, and it isn't a finger food. Plus, the cheese cooled down pretty quickly and stiffened up, but I guess that's Parmesan for you.


So as I was cleaning up the counter I spied that bag of 90 corn tortillas from Monday's Mexican Chicken Casserole. A light bulb went off. I pulled out a knife, cut a few tortillas into wedges, laid them on a cooking sheet, sprayed them with a little cooking spray and sprinkled them with chili powder and baked them at 375˚ for 8 minutes. Voila! Tortilla chips! They tasted pretty good and probably could have cooked for a minute or two longer to make them more crispy, but they'll crisp up more as they continue to cool.

Tortilla chips!