Recipe: Polenta Fries (Step by Step with Pics)

We have a thing with burger nights at our place- we love 'em. Usually, it will be one of those situations of... "What do you want to do for dinner tonight? " "I don't know, what do you want?" "Burger night?" "Sounds perfect." I have the menu down to a science, and it's all super easy but does require a bit of lengthy prep with all the washing, chopping and mixing of ingredients.

What really stands out about our burger night (besides the meat) are the "french fries" I make. As you can guess, I'm not really a traditional french fry kinda gal, but french fries with a healthy spin? I'm in!

I'll cover the rest of our burger night ingredients in another post eventually, but for now, let's talk about the fries. Now don't be a hater -- I get that these may not be the most nutrient-dense things in the world, nor are they any kind of super food, but we all need a little something something that just satisfies those cravings for a salty and semi-crunchy food, right?

Polenta Fries

Directions:
Start with your pre-cooked polenta tube. I get the kind that's pictured below; note: it is organic. The one you see there is the "original" kind that you can get at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, etc. I normally don't get original; I usually get basil garlic or one of their other flavors for a reason. I prefer basil garlic or other varieties of this brand because they have a slightly more solid consistency and are easier to cut into fries. The original is more delicate and falls apart if you're not careful when cutting.

The foundation.

So here we go: Get a sharp knife, and a damp paper towel or dish towel. Cut the polenta into thirds. I do this with the wrapper still on, and then I just peel it off.

First step: cut into thirds.

Next, sit those chunks upright and cut into long slices. This is key to prevent breakage: After every 1-3 chops, wipe off your knife with the wet cloth. The build-up of polenta residue on the knife will cause your slices to crumble apart when cutting. Clean knife = clean cut.

Slicing.

After you've sliced lengthwise, then turn the polenta and slice the opposite way so you get nice little cuts the size of french fries. Note how you can see some polenta crumbling off on the cutting board below? Sometimes I'll lay the flat slices out and chop up one at a time instead of all together, which seems to keep them stable.

Perfect french fry size.

After that, line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with olive oil spray -- don't overdo it on olive oil otherwise they'll be too mushy; but you need enough to prevent sticking. Then add all your fries to the cookie sheet and lightly spray again with olive oil. Pictured below is 1 1/4 tubes of polenta. For two people, I recommend one tube; anymore than two people get at least two tubes because the fries shrink.

1 1/4 tubes of polenta ready to go in the oven.

Bake in oven at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes until they feel a bit crunchy on the outside and still soft in the middle. Then crank up oven to broil (high) and cook for another 5-7 minutes, or until they are browned and even more crispy. Don't broil for too long -- they'll burn!

As you can see below, they do shrink quite a bit in the cooking process. When they're done they should be pretty crispy on the outside and only slightly soft in the middle. If they still feel mushy to the touch, cook longer. You want that crispy outer layer.

The finished product. Yum!

That's it! Polenta fries have been a hit whenever I've served them. They're great with dipping sauces (from ketchup to hummus) or on their own. And most of all they are a great substitute for french fries with fewer calories, no deep frying and still lots of great flavor. Gluten free, too. Check out the nutrition label of the brand I get (basil garlic variety):

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And since I was talking about burger night... below are a few things that always accompany the fries. (NOTE: Not pictured are organic beefsteak tomatoes marinated in balsamic, creamy goat cheese to spread on the burgers, arugula, pears that get added to the caramelized onions, Dijon mustard, and even buns for those carb-lovers.) Got your mouth watering? Mine is...

Oven-roasted asparagus. Add olive oil, lemon, s&p.
Simple and delicious.

Sweet onions about to be caramelized;
eventually sliced pears are added to mix.

Organic, grass-fed beef. The only kind I'll get.

Healthy Shrimp Enchiladas Verde

I was craving enchiladas, which is funny because it's normally not something I eat. Specifically, I wanted shrimp enchiladas with verde sauce instead of red sauce, and surprisingly when I did a google search (including the word "healthy" of course) no recipes with those specifications came up. But enchiladas are relatively easy to make, so I gathered up info from various recipes (one in particular, but now I can't find it haha), and created my own healthy version:

Healthy Shrimp Enchiladas Verde

*Note: I used all organic ingredients (except sauce I think), which I highly recommend!

1 lb raw medium shrimp, peeled/deveined

1 large red bell pepper

1 large zucchini

4 large green onions (the ones with big bulbs)

1/2 cup greek yogurt

1 lime

~1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

~1/2 bunch fresh cilantro

1/4 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp oregano

salt & pepper (eyeballed)

10 corn tortillas -- splurge on quality/non-GMO/organic for best results

16 oz. green enchilada sauce, here's what I used: Frontera's

olive oil

optional: roasted pasilla chiles, avocado

Directions:

*Scroll down for pic-by-pic process

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prep a 11 x 7 Pyrex/baking dish with a light amount of olive oil.

Chop all your veggies and shrimp (each shrimp = 3 pieces). Heat pan with olive oil and saute red bell pepper and all the white parts of the onions and only ~1/2 of the green stems. After a minute, add the chopped zucchini. Saute for 4-5 minutes total then add shrimp and juice of 1 lime and saute for another minute only. Remove from heat and add Greek yogurt, seasonings and most of the cilantro (make sure it's coarsely chopped). Let all that sit for ~5 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat another pan with or without a bit of olive oil and heat your tortillas. Pre-heating tortillas prevents them from breaking apart, but if you have quality corn tortillas (i.e. organic, non-GMO which should be a given) then they probably won't break apart anyways.

The next part works best if you have two people: spoon some of the shrimp/veggie mix onto each tortilla, wrap each tortilla and place them seam down on the baking dish. You should be able to fit ~10 tortillas total, and you might have leftover shrimp mix which I saved for another day :)

Once tortillas are all stuffed and in the baking dish then pour on the green enchilada sauce, spread the cheese on (use as little or as much as you want here), and top with the remainder of the chopped greens of the green onions.

Bake in oven for 25 minutes at 350.

Serve with extra fresh cilantro, avocado/guacamole and even a roasted pasilla chile for a little more spice!

Some notes:

*I was going to make homemade corn tortillas but ran out of time so I bought some from Whole Foods. I am not a fan of corn or corn products, but occasionally I like corn tortillas or tortilla chips and I will always look for an organic/non-GMO brand because anything else quite frankly scares me. I also read that the crappier the tortilla is in terms of the corn used, the more likely it is to break apart, which makes sense why so many corn tortillas always break because they're probably from cheap GMO corn. Yuck.

*Be careful with the enchilada sauce you choose. For one, try to avoid canned kinds. There are health risks associated with tomatoes sitting in cans, not to mention you're more likely to have crap ingredients in canned products (i.e. high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, gluten, preservatives). I would have like to have made my own, but no time. Frontera's was delicious and a very decent ingredient list! Only 10 calories for 2 Tbsp too!

*I bought some pasilla chiles at the farmer's market and wanted to put them in the mix, but I had never had them plain and wanted to get a taste for them on their own, so I served them on the side. Next time I'll definitely put them IN the enchiladas because they have a great, no too intense spice that was delicious. I covered mine in olive oil and roasted them in the oven for ~20 on low heat.

*These make excellent leftovers!

Pictures of the enchiladas in the making: