Grilled Polenta with a Creamy Lemon Caper Goat Ricotta Cheese Sauce

Polenta is a fine-ground corn that is pretty easy to prepare. It can either be prepared soft and creamy, or dry and firm. Personally, I prefer the consistency of the firm version. The preparation is fairly simple; just constantly whisk the cornmeal in liquid until each grain swells up, refrigerate and cut into slices. Right before you're ready to serve, place the polenta on a grill pan to create some nice grill marks.

To create the perfect summer dish, I've paired grilled medallions of polenta with a creamy lemon caper goat ricotta cheese sauce. It's divine!

Frangipane Petit Four with Raspberry Mascarpone Frosting

We hosted another tea party yesterday and I made some polenta tartlets and individual apricot pies. I had some leftover dough and almond cream from each, so I combined the two and baked them until they became dry. The result was similar to a "petit four sec". I had made eggplant rollups for dinner as well, so I used the leftover mascarpone to make a butter cream frosting which I then smeared onto each petit four. It worked like magic.

If an almond cream tart and a polenta tartlet had a baby, my frangipane petit four would probably be the result. Improvising with leftovers is a lot of fun. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but when it does, the result is true culinary innovation.  If you have no other use for the leftovers, it's the perfect time to experiment and be creative.

Blackberry Polenta Tart with a Kaffir Lime Ginger Glaze

I was very frustrated yesterday after the memory card of my camera crashed and I wasn't able to show off my beautiful crostata with pecan and blueberry pie filling. All I could rescue was only one photo of the crostata before it went into the oven. So to redeem myself, I'm offering you un cadeau de consolation, a consolation prize with a blackberry polenta tart.

The sweet dough is made with polenta which gives a very crumbly texture. I filled the tart with blackberry preserves, topped them with fresh blackberries and finished them with a kaffir lime ginger glaze. Everything was gone, it was delicious. Mission accomplished!

Crostata with Pecan and Blueberry Pie Filling

* The memory card of my camera just crashed and that's the only picture I could recover of the crostata right before getting in the oven.

A crostata is a dessert that is filled with jams or fruits and its sweet crust is folded inward at each edge. It gives the tart a more artisanal, which means rustic in French, and free-form look than other regular pies.

I made the dough with polenta to give it a more crumbly texture and flavored it with star anise. I used fresh ginger and Meyer lemon for the filling in addition to the blueberries.