Polenta With Roasted Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

This was a last minute fix when I remembered one of my dinner guests was gluten free and couldnt eat the pasta I was preparing. Came out so elegant! Homemade polenta is surprisingly easy and 100x better than store bought. If you haven't tried it before, you are in for a treat.

• Ready In: 50 mins
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• Roasted Tomatoes

• 1 1⁄2 lbs cherry tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
• 3  tablespoons olive oil
•  salt & freshly ground black pepper

• Polenta

• 2  cups milk
• 1 1⁄2 cups water
• 3  cups cornmeal
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
• 3  tablespoons butter or 3  tablespoons olive oil
• 1⁄2 cup  grated parmesan cheese

• Assembly

• 1  cup  soft fresh goat cheese
• 1⁄2 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1⁄2 cup  toasted pine nuts

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Grease a large baking sheet with a little of the olive oil.
2. Place tomatoes in pan cut side down and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until they start to char and shrivel (no need to turn over), 40-50min. Let cool on the pan a bit.
3. For the Polenta: Boil the milk and water together.
4. Whisk in the cornmeal and salt. Turn down the heat and stir constantly until the polenta is suspended in the water and no longer settles to the bottom of the pot. It's done in about 15 minutes (still stirring often), but is supposedly even better if you cook it for about an hour - I wouldn't know, I'm always too impatient :).
5. Take of the stove and stir in the butter or olive oil and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese.
6. Place a mound of polenta in the center of each plate. Top with goat cheese, roasted tomato, basil and pine nuts.