Shop

Gift

Learn

ABOUT

JOIN THE CLUB Account

+ FREE SHIPPING OVER £50

+ JOIN THE CLUB FOR JUST £15

Home
Blog
Layered tomato and pepper polenta platter

Layered tomato and pepper polenta platter

Ingredients

200g fine cornmeal (polenta)
1 litre liquid (500ml water and 500ml whole milk)
1 tsp fine sea salt
50g salted butter
Freshly ground black pepper
2-4 large red Romano or/and green Turkish peppers, halved and deseeded
250g cherry tomatoes, on the vine
1 large bunch chard (around 200–250g), stalks and leaves chopped
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Sea salt
100g feta, crumbled
2 tbsp fresh dill, roughly chopped
Zest of 1/2 lemon
½ tsp chilli flakes (or to taste)
3 tbsp Citizens of Soil Croatian EVOO (plus extra for cooking)

Garlicky chard, Romano peppers, and salty crumbly cheese sit on a bed of sunshine yellow polenta. The gentle yet vibrant Istrian Extra Rare olive oil brings this dish together beautifully.

Be transported to south-eastern Europe with a vegetarian twist on a popular dish of this region, dalmatinsko varivo (Dalmatian stew).

Made exclusively for the new drop of our Croatian Extra Rare, this recipe is bursting with flavours. The creamy polenta provides a sturdy bed for the cornucopia of colours, flavours, and textures, and allows this delicate oil to shine through.

"This is the perfect meal to enjoy outdoors," says Alissa Timoshkina, the creator of this recipe. Alissa is a chef, cookbook author and historian who specialises in Eastern European food culture and telling the stories of this region.

Enjoy the alfresco lifestyle this Bank Holiday weekend and discover a taste of this region.

Here's the method:

Feeds 4 as a main, or 6 as a side.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan) / Gas 6.
Place the halved peppers and cherry tomatoes on separate baking trays. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt, and roast the peppers for 20 minutes, until soft and lightly charred, and tomatoes for 10–15 minutes, until blistered and just bursting.
To make the sautéed chard, place 2 tbsp of olive oil in a cold frying pan and add the sliced garlic. Watch the garlic start to sizzle as the oil comes up to medium temperature, and gently cook 30-60 seconds until fragrant. Add chopped chard, season, and sauté for 4–5 minutes until wilted and tender. Set aside.
To cook the polenta, bring 1 litre of liquid and 1 tsp of salt to a boil in a medium saucepan.
Reduce heat to low and slowly whisk in the polenta in a steady stream to avoid lumps.
Cook on low for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until thick, creamy and soft.
Stir in the butter and a little black pepper.
To serve, spoon the polenta immediately into a large serving dish or platter. Layer over the chard, peppers and cherry tomatoes.
Sprinkle generously with feta and dill.
Finish with a generous drizzle of Citizens of Soil Croatian EVOO, a sprinkle of chilli flakes and lemon zest.

You may also like...

Roasted pumpkin, white bean purée & bergamot dressing.

Sweet, flavoursome pumpkin, caramelised onion, and smooth bean purée are drizzled generously with extra virgin olive oil for a comforting meal that welcomes the flavours of autumn. Now that summer is behind us, it’s time for a pumpkin recipe. We chose a variety called Delica, which has really beautiful, sweet, and dense orange flesh. Plus, you can eat the skin—less work, more flavour. Paired with a caramelised onion and bean purée, and drizzled with a bergamot and olive oil dressing, it’s a...

Squash, olive oil, & fig cake

Late summer flavours roll into the early autumn harvest with this gorgeous cake to mark the change in seasons. Having friends around now that the summer holidays have ended? This is the perfect statement dessert to close out a meal together as the warmer days get a bit of chill. This recipe comes to us from Chiara Tomasoni, a MasterChef finalist, chef tutor, and sous-chef based at River Cottage in Devon. She's well respected for her sustainable, farm-to-table style and her commitment to using...

An EVOO brand boom—but what about olive oil quality?

The vibe is cool, and it has all the seemingly right buzzwords, but then you scratch your head and wonder: is it actually high-quality olive oil? Or just a nice packaging? How’s one to know? You’re probably familiar with this experience: you followed an olive oil business (like, let’s say, Citizens of Soil) and now every time you go on Instagram, you’re getting served up an ad for a new, easy-on-the-eyes olive oil brand. So today, we want to address the elephant in the olive oil-filled room...