Polenta Salad; It's a Toddler Tender! and The Weekly Menu

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It's a 'baby-minder'.

Apparently there are not enough totally frustrated mother's of toddlers reading my blog, as no one came even close....

One slides the two top panels apart, drops the toddler in up to the armpits, slides them shut and...

Voila!

Instant toddler-tender. 

The child is held upright and can walk back and forth along the wooden planks on the bottom - thus giving the active child a chance to move and yet keep him out of the fireplace while mom is busy with the cooking, laundry, etc.

Remember, that the fireplaces of the time were flush with the floor and large enough that a small child could walk right into them. 

And there was always a very tempting, pretty fire burning....

The more sophisticated models no doubt had a place for a toy or two.

I don't know how old this particular one is, but I think the style dates from the 1600's.

Now I have to think of some other way to give away the cookbook.... Any ideas?

For the Salad of the Week I give you my interpretation of an Italian Bread Salad.  (I didn't have the bread)

Polenta Salad  Serves 2

1 cup chicken stock or stock and water mixed
1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tsp polenta
oil
Salad:
8 dry-cured, Greek olives
8 green olives
10 cherry tomatoes
8 - 10 small mozzarella balls,
1 tbs fresh snipped chives
2 tbs fresh snipped basil
1 tbs Balsamic vinegar
2 tbs plus 1 tsp olive oil

Polenta: Bring stock to boil in a small saucepan. Add polenta, whisking constantly - or it will have little volcanic eruptions spewing polenta all over your stove. Turn heat down and cook about 5 minutes (or whatever your package tells you), stirring constantly. You may have to switch to a wooden spoon. When done remove from heat and pour into a small pan lined with lightly oiled plastic wrap (cling film, saran wrap...). You want the polenta to have a flat surface 1/2 - 3/4 inch (1.5 - 2cm) thick. I use a small, flat skillet with straight (vertical) sides. Smooth the top as flat as you can, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Can be made hours ahead - I usually do it late afternoon/early evening.
Salad: Cut cherry tomatoes, olives and mozzarella balls in half and put into a salad bowl. Snip chives and cut large basil leaves in half; leave small ones whole. Add herbs to bowl. Whisk together 1 tbs vinegar and 2 tbs oil. Add to bowl and stir to combine. Cut polenta into 1" (2.5cm) squares or chunks. Heat 1 tsp oil in a nonstick skillet. Add polenta and fry until golden on both sides. Add polenta to bowl, mix gently and serve.

In addition to the above, for the week of July 11, we have Chilled Tomato Vermicelli Soup, Lemon Prawns,  Zucchini Tortilla, Steak with Glazed Mushrooms, Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce, and more...

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Bon Weekend!

Comments

[african vanielje]

I would never have guessed but it's pretty ingenious. Love the polenta salad. If I get up in time to visit the market in the morning for olives we might just be having this for lunch.

[shayne]

well I have two little ones and I would have never gotten that. Maybe because I don't have fireplace plus there is no way that my 2 year old would have ever stayed in that.

[michelle]

Well, I never would have guessed you would stick a kid in that torture-looking device!! Crazy! I never would have thought of putting polenta in a panzanella either, but that sounds like a much better idea!! well, if you really need ideas...you could just send me your cookbook if you'd like ;)

[Jerry]

What a wonderful way to serve polenta. I shall have to try this soon.

[Cymry]

Since it is a Williams-Sonoma cookbook, you could do a recipe (with pictures) contest using a Williams-Sonoma food product. I was just at their store this week and was ogling all the spice mixes (coffee and spice rub..yum!), different sea salts (pink!!), unique oils and vinegars... Or, maybe a recipe using one of their more bizarre cooking gadgets.

Will have to try the salad..think there is a box of polenta in the pantry somewhere. Looks like a good combination of textures.

As for the baby dungeon, that may be very handy for my cats when I am trying to clean ;)

[Jude]

I thought you were kidding about that.. child restraint / torture device looking thing.
ANyway, thanks for this summer salad recipe.

[katie]

african vanielje, I thought it was very ingenious... and practical, for the times!

Shayne, maybe they had locks.... Think of it like one of those jumper swings....

Michelle, kept the little ones out of trouble... I'll think on it ;-))

Jerry, thanks... Raid the fridge works again

Cymry, Long time since I've been in a Williams Sonoma store... sigh...

Jude, I think it looks worse than it was... think of how awful a playpen would look to someone unfamiliar...

[pam]

I couldn't get past the idea that it looked like a fancy flower pot holder! This salad looks great! I was just thinking this morning that I needed to start gathering some good salad recipes for when school starts back (for lunch).

[MyKitchenInHalfCups]

Katie that makes perfect sense and now I'm sure I saw one of these in a museum in Paris when we were there last. Totally missed that one but I won't miss out on this salad. That is one of my very favorite things to do with polenta!

[Zoomie]

Thanks for satisfying my curiosity about the strange device! A more compact thing than a playpen...

[katie]

Pam, flower pots.... Could be a 'new' use for it!

Tanna, great minds....

Zoomie, right, considering how small houses were.., actually, still are!

[Angela]

I would never, ever have guessed that as being some sort of toddler-restraining device. I guess kids weren't too smart in the 1600s... I can't picture my little monster staying in that for very long!

[katie]

Angela, I think there is a latch underneath.... Scary thought, though!

[Susan from Food Blogga]

Yikes! Good thing those aren't at Babys R Us!
As for polenta salad, I am soooo making this, Katie!

[Liliana]

Katie, any way to keep the polenta from falling apart when frying it? The salad was out of this world anyway, I guess it didn't matter that the polenta looked like a mess that I had to scrape off the pan... I followed your instructions to the dot. The same thing happened to me with the previous polenta recipe. That one was grilled, boy what a mess that made (the little pie shaped pieces just melted and fell into the grill - so the fire ate it, not us)! :)

[katie]

Susan, one never knows - they could be hot sellers ;-))

Liliana, sorry about that. The polenta needs to be really stiff, and different brands may be, well, different! Try adding another tsp or 2 of polenta... and be sure to use a nonstick skillet. But thanks for the info and I'll add some tips to the recipes!

[Gilli Wrightson]

I love the polenta cooked that way. With the addition of lots of herbs it makes great sticks dipped in maybe your alloli!!! or any garlic mayonnaise. Perfect with pre dinner drinks.
Cheers

[katie]

Gilli, sticks for dipping - great idea!