Garden Harvest Polenta Stacks

Fun, colorful, and gluten-free, these grilled Garden Harvest Polenta Stacks are perfect for a meatless meal while taking full advantage of summer's bounty of seasonal, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, and basil.

*Disclaimer - This recipe was originally published in 2015. I'm working hard to update all my older recipes with recipe cards, new photos, and additional recipe information. But, getting to all of them will take time. Please bear with me. In the meantime let me assure you that this recipe is still a winner and one I'm sure you'll be well pleased with when you make it at home.

My aim with this recipe was to make something unusual with all the garden zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant, and basil I found myself staring at on my kitchen counter. Then the idea struck with these Grilled Garden Harvest Polenta Stacks.

The key to making these stacks as delicious as possible is to season each and every layer with a bit of salt and pepper. It's also important to use vegetables that are roughly the same size in diameter as the store-bought packaged log of polenta (my brainstorm to add to these stacks while walking the aisles of the grocery store). You can find the log of prepared polenta in the International aisle of your grocery store.

A light brushing of olive oil for each grilled ingredient adds another layer of flavor to these unique stacks making them a feast for your taste buds as well as your eyes. I used my indoor grill pan to cook the polenta, zucchini, and eggplant, but you can, however, use your outdoor grill. If grilling outdoors, pay close attention, so the vegetables don't grill up too fast, burn, and shrivel away.

GRILLED GARDEN HARVEST POLENTA STACKS  {PRINT THIS RECIPE}
Yield: 9 stacks       Prep Time:  20 minutes

1 medium zucchini, cut into ¼" slices - 9 pieces total
2 baby eggplant, cut into ¼ slices - pieces total
2 garden tomatoes, cut into ¼" slices - 9 pieces total
1 log of packaged prepared polenta, cut into ¼" slices - 9 pieces total
1 log of fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into ¼' slices - 9 pieces total, plus small pieces for topping
9 large basil leaves
9 small basil leaves
1 cup marinara sauce, homemade or store-bought
extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

-Brush both sides of the zucchini, eggplant, and polenta with a bit of olive oil. Heat a grill pan (or outdoor grill) to high, and grill zucchini, eggplant, and polenta on both sides (for approximately 1-2 minutes each side) seasoning each with salt and pepper. Set aside. Season the tomato slices with salt and pepper. Set aside.

-Spread almost all of the marinara on a platter (saving a little for garnish) and assemble the stacks starting with the grilled polenta, fresh mozzarella, large basil leaf, grilled zucchini, grilled eggplant, a small topping of mozzarella, a dollop of the remaining marinara, and small basil leave to complete.

-Serve immediately, or heat in a low oven (300 degrees) for 10 minutes.

Since my husband loves his meat at dinnertime, I wasn't sure how he'd enjoy these since I wasn't serving them with any protein on the plate. His favorable reaction was one that took me by surprise, and when he saw me writing the post for this recipe he reiterated that he thought these were "really, really good!" WOOT!

Here are a few more zucchini recipes that I've posted in the past that I think you're also really going to like. Some have meat, and some don't, but they're all "really, really good."

Zucchini Pizza Boats:

Spaghetti Squash and Zucchini Pancakes:

Zucchini and Sweet Corn Souffle:

Zucchini and Sweet Potato Fritters:

It's amazing how versatile zucchini is, don't you think? Me too! Nothing beats creativity in the kitchen. Cooking should be fun! Get someone else to do the cleanup. LOL