Spicy Polenta Bites are a unique, easy to make appetizer with the robust flavors of sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, and green chiles
I took these to a party last night – this is one of those appetizers where people take a bite, their eyes widen, and they say, “Wow – these are amazing!” These are full of robust, complementary flavors that you don’t find in your typical appetizers.
I made two versions – a large and a small. The large are made with discs of polenta 2 1/2 inches in diameter – you just buy a premade tube of polenta and slice it into discs 1/4 inch thick and fry them in olive oil. The small ones are 1 1/2 inches in diameter – and you have to mix the polenta with some water, pat it out to 1/4 in thick and use a cookie cutter (or similar) to cut out the disks, so it’s more work. Photo above is the miniature ones, photo below is the larger ones.
Once you fry up the polenta, you are basically assembling – easy peasy. But you should also wait until no more than an hour before serving to assemble – as they sit, they get soft and lose their crispiness. They still taste good soft, but they are better crispy.
- 1 tube pre-made polenta (I used sun-dried tomato & garlic polenta)
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup Basil Chile Pesto (recipe here)
- ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil
- ¼ cup crumbled Cotija cheese
- 2 tbsp diced hot green chiles
- Chop the sun dried tomatoes up into little pieces and set aside.
- Slice the polenta into ¼ inch slices. (See notes for making bite-sized ones)
- Coat a large nonstick skillet with the olive oil and fry polenta until golden brown on each side (about 2 minutes per side), then remove with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels to drain. You will have to fry them in batches of about 6 to 8 at a time.
- To assemble each polenta bite, take a polenta disc, smear it with basil chile pesto, sprinkle sun dried tomatoes on top, then cover with about a half teaspoon of Cotija cheese. Top with a few pieces of diced green chiles.
- Serve within about an hour or they get soft. *See notes
Add ⅓ cup water, cover, and cook on low for about 10 minutes.
Use a potato masher to mash into a smooth consistency.
Spread to ¼ inch thickness on a flexible cutting board or a cutting board covered in wax paper. Use a cookie cutter (or similar, like a bottle cap) to cut out discs of polenta.
Fry per regular instructions and assemble the miniature versions just like the larger ones.
Spicy Polenta Bites are an unusual, simple to make appetizer with the robust flavors of pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, and green chiles
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