Pan-Fried Polenta with Fresh Tomato-Bean Salsa

This recipe comes from The Tomato Book, which happens to be shaped just like a tomato. I hate to admit this, but I enjoy these cheesy cardboard cookbooks by Publications International, Ltd. Their dumb shapes make me happy, and much like the old Pokémon fad, I gotta to catch ‘em all. It helps that the recipes are usually simple, because really, you can only fit so many instructions onto one little page. On brain fried days, I can grab one of these no brainer beauties, pick any recipe, and get cooking in no time.

Ingredients
2 ½ cups chopped ripe tomatoes
1 cup canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
½ cup chopped fresh basil
½ teaspoon each salt & black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (16 ounce) package prepared polenta, sliced into ¼-inch-thick rounds
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions
1. Stir together tomatoes, beans, basil, salt and pepper. Let stand at room temperature 15 minutes to blend flavors. (I added a drizzle of olive oil.)

2. Heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add half the polenta slices to skillet; cook until golden brown on both sides, about 4 minutes, turning once. Remove polenta from skillet. Repeat with remaining oil and polenta slices.

3. Arrange polenta on a serving plate. Spoon tomato-bean mixture on top. Sprinkle with cheese and garnish with basil.

Makes 4 servings

Notes: For breakfast the next morning, I broke up the leftovers in a skillet, heated them up, poured in a couple seasoned whisked eggs, and scrambled it all together.

Recipe from The Tomato Cookbook. Picture by Laura Flowers.