Tomato-Basil Sauce with Polenta

By Dixie8686

Recipes & Menus | recipes

Tomato-Basil Sauce with Polenta
Serve this chunky, all-purpose tomato sauce with fish, chicken, pasta, or disks of polenta (shown here).

4 servings

active:

20 minutes

total:

45 minutes

Recipe by The Bon Appétit Test Kitchen

Photograph by Romulo Yanes

June 2012

Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 16- to 18-ounce packaged cooked polenta log, cut into 1/2-inch rounds
• 2 pounds cherry tomatoes (about 6 cups)
• 7 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 shallot, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8 large sprigs basil

Details

Servings 4
Cooking time 65mins
Adapted from prod.bonappetit.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preparation

Arrange racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 425°. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil and brush with 1 Tbsp. oil. Arrange polenta rounds on oiled sheet.

Very coarsely chop (do not purée) half the tomatoes in a food processor. Cut remaining tomatoes in half (quarter if large). Combine tomatoes in a bowl with 4 Tbsp. oil and remaining ingredients. Toss to coat.

Stack three 24x12" sheets of parchment paper on another baking sheet. (Don't use foil—the tomato acid will react with aluminum.) Spoon tomato mixture onto one side of stacked parchment. Fold parchment layers over mixture and crimp edges tightly to form a sealed packet.

Place baking sheet with tomato packet on upper rack and sheet with polenta on lower rack. Bake, turning polenta rounds once, until polenta is light golden and tomatoes are saucy (carefully open packet to check; steam will escape), 25–30 minutes. (You can also cook polenta in a grill pan or on a charcoal or gas grill.)

Spoon tomato sauce over polenta.

Hungry for More? To see more recipes like this one, check out our Favorite Italian Recipes Slideshow.