Grilled Polenta with White Beans

This grilled polenta is perfectly crispy! Serve it with rosemary-infused white beans and tomatoes for a delicious vegetarian Italian recipe.

Years ago, Alex and I started a food blog called A Couple Cooks. We had a personal blog at the time, but it was becoming so saturated with food photos that we decided to start a food blog to focus on our growing interest in cooking. We went around and around about the name. After an intense brainstorm session, I suggested A Couple Cooks (both a couple who cooks and a couple of cooks — get it?). Alex was a bit wary, but we decided to go for it.

Now, we can’t imagine our lives without it. It’s propelled us into a career in the food industry and helped us write our cookbook, Pretty Simple Cooking. Here’s a recipe we made to celebrate our website’s third birthday: this grilled polenta with white beans. It’s an incredibly delicious Italian dinner recipe that’s sophisticated and pretty simple to make!

Read more: Classic Creamy Polenta

PS here’s how A Couple Cooks looked on the first day we started: August 6, 2010!

How about a cooking date?

We created this grilled polenta recipe with white beans to celebrate the third anniversary of A Couple Cooks. And in the spirit “A Couple Cooks,” it’s a recipe that’s perfect for a cooking date with a couple of people! For this recipe, it’s fun to make it with a significant other, friend, or family member: though of course that’s not required! We love “cooking dates” because they’re a wonderful way to both feed yourself and spend quality time with a loved one. Instead of going out to a restaurant for a special occasion, stay in and have a cooking date by making a recipe together. This way, you get to enjoy a meal that you’re more invested in because you’ve created it yourselves, and it’s usually healthier too!

How to make grilled polenta

This grilled polenta recipe is delicious and easy to put together: it combines polenta with tomatoes, white beans, garlic and rosemary. The flavors are simple yet refined, and make for a lovely summer meal. If you’re looking for a vegetarian Italian recipe, this one is a fun main dish that’s outside of the standard pasta.

For this grilled polenta, we’ve used a bit of a shortcut: it uses premade polenta that you can buy in a tube at the store. You can make your own polenta and then chill it before making this recipe, but using the premade polenta from the store is easier and it has the perfect texture for grilling. And the grilling in this recipe is not on an actual grill (though you could do that too!): it’s simply grilled up in a non-stick pan on the stovetop. Simply slice the premade polenta into slices, brush with olive oil, and grill in the pan for a few minutes on each side. The topping of garlicky white beans with rosemary and tomatoes takes it over the top!

Looking for more vegetarian Italian recipes?

Outside of this grilled polenta with white beans recipe, here are a few of our favorite vegetarian Italian recipes that are delicious and healthy:

• Simple Calzone Recipe
• Tomato Basil Gnocchi Soup
• Vegan Italian Pasta Salad
• Perfect Neapolitan Style Pizza Recipe
• Tomato & Grilled Eggplant Stacked Sandwich
• Parmesan Black Truffle Risotto
• Creamy Vegan Pasta Marinara
• Orecchiette Pasta with Lemon Asparagus
• Italian Vegetable & Gnocchi Soup
• Skillet Eggplant Marinara
• Tomato Sage Chickpea Soup
• Tuscan Soup with White Beans

This recipe is…

This grilled polenta with white beans and tomatoes recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free.

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Grilled Polenta with White Beans

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This grilled polenta is perfectly crispy! Serve it with rosemary-infused white beans and tomatoes for a delicious vegetarian Italian recipe.

• Author: a Couple Cooks
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x
• Category: Main Dish
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 24-ounce tube prepared polenta
• 15-ounce can cannellini beans
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary (do not substitute dried)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for brushing
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Kosher salt
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

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Instructions

1. Cut the polenta into slices, about ½ inch thick. Drain and rinse the beans.
2. Wash the cherry tomatoes, and cut them in half. Mince the garlic. Remove the leaves from the rosemary, and finely chop it.
3. Over medium high heat, heat a grill pan or nonstick skillet. Brush the pan with olive oil; do the same with both sides of the polenta slices. Place slices in the pan and cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove the slices from the pan and cover them to keep warm.
4. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add tomatoes and garlic to skillet and sauté 4 to 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the beans, the balsamic vinegar, chopped rosemary, freshly ground black pepper, and a few pinches of kosher salt. Cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
5. To serve: Place polenta slices on a plate. Spoon the bean and tomato mixture evenly over polenta, and sprinkle evenly with Parmesan cheese. If desired, garnish with leftover rosemary sprigs.

Notes

Adapted from Cooking Light

This recipe works perfectly for two, since there are two distinct cooking tasks. Cook with your significant other, friend, family member – anyone who’s game to spend a bit of time in the kitchen!