In celebration of Vegan MoFo, I’m doing a month of themed dinner party ideas! The theme of the first week is… The Wizard of Oz!
After watching the awe of Oz, one has to wonder… Once she returned to the dusty black and white of Kansas, did Dorothy Gale ever regret that she gave up Technicolor?
In the Emerald City she wanted so deeply to fly from wizards and spells and back to Kansas. When Glinda told her how she could leave, with an I’ll miss you most of all and a click of her heels, she left without a thought. Now here she was back in a world of fences, and did she ever wish she hadn’t traded rainbows for wheat fields?
Dorothy gave up her ruby slippers, glittering and vibrant, for Mary Jane’s and ankle socks. But did she ever wish that she hadn’t turned her soulful scarecrow back into a simple farmhand or her deep Tinman into an ordinary Huck? Professor Marvel was just a trailer-bound soothsayer, but in another world he could turn cowards into lions.
When Elmira Gulch could no longer fly or command winged monkeys… When the former Witch was just a bitty on a bicycle, enslaving little dogs and wielding her powers on young girls, did Dorothy remember the embodiment of magic she used to be?
If you can’t find happiness in your backyard, you never lost it in the first place. But what if there’s more than your own backyard? When she gave up the Emerald City for plains, did she ever fall asleep at night in black and white and shades of gray and ache to dream herself onto the Yellow Brick Road?
Yellow Brick Road Polenta
Serves 4 as an appetizer
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil + extra for oiling glass baking dish and browning polenta
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth (or water + half of a vegetable bouillon cube)
- 1/2 cup De La Estancia polenta*
- 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- Salt & pepper, to taste
*De La Estancia is a fine grain polenta that is not an instant product but cooks very quickly. If you’re using another brand of polenta, you’ll need to adjust the liquid, polenta amount, and cooking times accordingly.
Lightly oil an 8×8 glass baking dish or pie dish and set aside. (If you double the recipe, use a larger baking dish, so that the polenta bricks don’t get too thick.)
In a medium-sized soup pot, saute garlic in a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. After a couple of minutes, once the garlic is translucent and fragrant, add the vegetable broth (or water + bouillon), basil, and oregano to pot. Once it is simmering, add the polenta slowly to the pot, stirring constantly until the polenta gives away from the edges of the pot. Add in the nutritional yeast flakes, and continue stirring until it has thickened, about one minute. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the polenta into the oiled baking dish and move to the refrigerator to firm overnight (or at least 4 hours).
Once the polenta is firm, cut it into brick-sized slices. Heat a skillet to a medium heat and add enough oil to the pan to lightly cover it. Once the oil has heated, add a small pinch of polenta to the pan to see if oils bubble around it. If they do, the oil is ready. Shallow fry the polenta in batches, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. Once one side is brown, flip to the other side and brown. Remove the polenta to a plate, and continue with the remaining batches. Serve with Ruby Red Marinara.
Ruby Red Marinara
Adapted from Former Chef
Makes about 1 cup
- Water, for boiling and ice bath
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 red onion, chopped small
- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 medium-sized ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeded
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- Pinch of thyme
- Pinch of rosemary
- Salt & pepper, to taste
Fill a medium-sized soup pot with water and bring to a boil. Core three tomatoes and score the bottoms with an X. Carefully lower the tomatoes into the boiling water. Boil for 30 seconds, and then move the tomatoes to a bowl filled with ice water. Leave the tomatoes in the ice water for 30 seconds and remove. The peels should remove easily from the tomatoes. Open each of the tomatoes and remove the seeds, catching any juice on a plate.
In the medium-sized soup pot, saute onions and garlic in extra virgin olive oil under a medium heat. Once fragrant and translucent, about five minutes, add peeled and seeded tomatoes. (Using a sieve to catch any seeds, squeeze the leftover tomato skins and any tomato juice from the plate over the pot to make use of all of the tomato juice.) Turn the heat to low, add basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Cook the sauce for an hour and a half, stirring occasionally, until thickened and condensed. For a smooth sauce, blend with an immersion blender.
Now it says yellow brick road polenta serves 4 people. I only see 7 slices. In my estimation that means one person gets one piece, instead of two. That party guest better not be me
Now you know you’ve got to show up early!
(Okay, so I might have done a little “testing” before picture-taking. Good eye!)
Polenta has never seemed quite so magical! And I have a feeling from now on my mind will wander back to The Wizzard of Oz every time I see polenta.
Magic is the secret ingredient! Oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, and a heaping handful of magic!
I love your theme! And now I am imagining a road paved with polenta and ruby slippers overflowing with sauce lol. Keep them coming, I love this!
With the way you’ve described it, now I’m hungry too!
Thanks, Kate!
I have no clue about the wizard oz and and the yellow brick road.. but those polenta slices witht he marinara sound like a fab snack!
You’ve never seen the Wizard of Oz? You should rent it! Even though it was made in 1939, it still really holds up. It’s sweet and funny, tender, and even a tiny bit scary.
I love polenta and could eat it every day. Mushrooms and tomato sauce are two of my favorite toppings. In fact, I have a polenta post coming up, though unlike yours, it didn’t turn out as pretty as I’d hoped. Actually, it didn’t turn out pretty at all.
I assume the pottery pieces are your creations – so unique and beautiful.
Polenta is a favorite for me too! (Although that may be obvious since on my blog I have recipes for it creamy, grilled, and fried! The only thing left is to roast it…) I’ll look forward to seeing your polenta post!
Good eye! Yes, the platters are handmade by me. Thanks for the kind words!
wow, this is a meal that has caitlin written ALL OVER IT. i love polenta and the idea of dipping it into marinara sauce is making me go ca-raaaazy! i need this now.
If only you were here, I have some left that could be yours! It’s like the healthier vegan version of fried mozzarella sticks.
I don’t think I’ve ever questioned the happenings in the Wizard of Oz nearly as much as I have since reading your posts. Now every time I see polenta I’m going to start wondering why I have a strong urge to watch WOO.
Your comment is too funny! Now that we’ve examined the psychosis of many of the characters, it’s probably for the best we’re moving on to a new theme next week!
Polenta is one of those foods I always mean to make and somehow never do. I’ve always wanted to try it grilled.
You should do it, Katrina! It’s good in all forms, but creamy is actually my favorite. In that form it feels comforting like mashed potatoes.
You can use this version grilled, but I’d recommend leaving it in the same sized baking dish to firm but doubling the amount of polenta. This version makes thin strips (which is nice for shallow frying), but it’s easier to grill when it’s thicker.
A) Loving the musings on Dorothy, especially this line: If you can’t find happiness in your backyard, you never lost it in the first place.
B). Yellow brick road polenta??? Squealing like a little girl. Too adorable, Cadry!
Thanks, Cara! That line is a take off on something Dorothy says at the end of the movie when she’s back with her family again. “I know that if I ever go looking for my heart’s desire, I’ll never go any further than my own back yard. For if it isn’t there, I never really lost it.”
When I was a kid, I always wondered why Dorothy chose to go leave her cool new friends and go back to boring, drab, black and white Kansas. Of course I understand now, but as a kid, I wanted to stay in Oz.
Now I have 2 polenta recipes from you that I want to try. What a great snack to go with your theme!
You know, there really are some holes with her going back to Kansas. First and foremost, the whole reason she ran away was because Elmira Gulch wanted to have Toto destroyed. Now that she’s home with Toto, there’s no reason Elmira won’t come back and take him again. Second, they really set up at the beginning of the movie how much she’s bothering everyone and how they all have work to do that Dorothy is hampering. At least in Oz she had several friends who wanted nothing more than to be with her. I think Dorothy should have given the whole thing some more consideration.
That polenta looks so delicious and I adore your shoes
Thanks, Mandee! They’re surprisingly comfortable, which will be handy if I ever find myself doing laps on a Yellow Brick Road.
I love your Vegan MOFO theme! It’s so awesome and at times adorable. What a great way to be creative. This idea for the Yellow Brick Road Polenta and Ruby Red Marinara are so perfect, and look might delicious, I might add!
Thank you, Jackie! Who knew that a road could taste so good?