cheesy vegetable and bacon polenta muffins

Now, I'm the type of person that loves my meat. I rarely shy away from a juicy slab of steak or a beautifully fragrant roast lamb or a succulent roast pork. Have I turned you off yet? Yet I'm also the type of person that finds extremely fresh looking vegetables enticing. Strange I know, but strictly for cooking and eating purposes only. Who doesn't want to cook with and eat the freshest ingredients they can find? When I visited the friendly grocery store that oddly sells a comprehensive combination of Asian and European products the other weekend, I thought to myself, I need to incorporate more vegetables in to my diet (and I do use the term 'diet' loosely. I'm on by no means, any sort of restrictive diet. Let's just call it 'an attempt at healthy lifestyle choices').

You have to know that while I may appear, at times, hard working and diligent (I can hear my colleagues cough right now), I am actually quite lazy. When I dug through my Women's Weekly recipe book and found a recipe for corn and bacon muffins, I thought, why don't I just add a whole heap of other vegies? I might as well, seeing as really, I don't have the time or energy to peel, chop, dice and slice a whole heap of vegies for one meal.

Here is the outcome: cheesy vegetable and bacon polenta muffins. I think they turned out alright. A bit ugly but tasty. And that's what counts right?

Give it a go - these are super easy to make. They're also like a meal on it's own, on the go. If you're one of those that is time poor, bake some of these and chow one down (or two) for lunch. I like to think of it as a balanced meal. Carbs, vegies and a bit of meat. This muffin (or bruffin, if you eat it between breakfast and lunch) covers pretty much all the food groups. A bonus: if you have kids that don't like vegies, I think this is a good way at "hiding those vegies" I hear so much about in my day job.

Cheesy vegetable and bacon polenta muffins

Adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly: Cheese, corn and bacon muffins

preparation time | maximum 30 minutes (depends how fast you are at peeling, chopping etc)
cooking time | 20 minutes
makes | 24 standard sized muffins or 48 mini muffins (good for lunch boxes!)

1/2 cup of polenta
1/2 cup of milk
3 bacon rashers, rind removed, chopped finely
1 small to medium onion
1 cup of peas
1 cup of chopped capsicum (any colour you like)
1 1/2 cups of self-raising flour
420g can corn kernels, drained
420g can creamed corn
100g butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup grated cheese of your choice
extra grated parmesan or pecorino cheese (to sprinkle on top)

1| Preheat oven to 180 degrees (fan-forced) or 200 degrees. Oil or spray with oil your muffin pans.
2| Mix polenta and milk in a small bowl and cover. Leave to stand for 20 minutes or so.
3| Get on with chopping your bacon! And then get on to chopping your capsicum. If you're really time poor, you could buy the frozen stuff but fresh is always better. Cook the onion and bacon in a frypan, stirring until fragrant. Add in your peas and capsicum. Watch the beautiful colours combine. Remove pan from heat and cool mixture for about 5 minutes.
4| Sift the flour into a large bowl, stir in the corn kernels, creamed corn and bacon mixture. Add the melted butter, egg, grated cheese of your choice and polenta mixture. Mix muffin batter only until just combined.
5| Spoon the batter into the muffin pan, dividing as equally as you can. Sprinkle the extra parmesan cheese on top.
6| Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes, or until the muffins are well-risen. Turn the muffins onto a wire rack.
7| Enjoy warm and pat yourself on the back for including so many vegetables in one serve.

You can substitute any of the vegetables (other than corn) so this is also a great way to use up bits and bobs of vegies in the fruit and veg chiller of your fridge.

zucchini, corn and capsicum fritters

Trends that have become apparent are the return to simplicity and a more conscious effort to understand what we eat and where it comes from. This can be seen with the number of farmer’s markets and personal vegetable gardens popping up all over urban cities. With the change in season, I’ve noticed this more and more. As the weather gets warmer and the days get longer, people venture out again, and the number of people that frequent community gardens and the local markets is overwhelming. Seeing as I don’t have a veggie patch and haven’t had the chance to replant my herb garden, I love going to the markets to see what fresh produce is available. I revel in picking out unmarked, plump fruit and vegetables and the inspiration they bring. Cooking with fresh seasonal produce is so much fun in spring because I think what’s in season is so much more colourful compared to other seasons. And with that, came the inspiration for zucchini, corn and capsicum fritters. 

One thing I struggle with is making dinner after I’ve come home from work. The very last thing I want to do is spend time slaving away in the kitchen – I’m too hungry and impatient to cook an elaborate meal. I want to make something that is simple to prepare, fast to cook and assemble and deliciously fresh and tasty to eat. Perhaps I should get myself Donna Hay’s book Fast, Fresh, Simple... Yes, friends, Christmas is coming up and so is my birthday... hint, hint, nudge, nudge.

I went shopping over the weekend and while in the local grocer was inspired by all the beautifully bright colours. Off I went, loading my basket with corn, zucchini, capsicum, cucumber and other necessities (yes, chocolate). Once at home, I pored through my cookbooks at home and found a recipe for zucchini fritters – something I’ve always wanted to make. Given how inspired I was I decided to do a little experimenting and throw together a hodge-podge of the ingredients I bought and bam – zucchini, corn and capsicum fritters.

These are so simple to make. Really. I’m not lying. They hardly take any time at all to cook (and eat). Plus, you’re getting 3 veggies in every fritter. Win-win I say.

Zucchini, corn and capsicum fritters

preparation time | 5 minutes + 10 minutes standing time for zucchini
cooking time | 10 minutes
makes | about 8 medium sized fritters (around 5cm in diameter)

1 big zucchini
2 spring onions
½ red capsicum
1 whole corn cob
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup plain flour
½ teaspoon of baking powder
Olive oil or another oil of your choice for frying

Tzatziki
1 cup plain or Greek, full-fat yogurt
1 to 2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
Grated cucumber, as much or as little as you want
Pinches of salt and pepper
1 small minced or crushed clove of garlic 

1| Cut the rounded end of the zucchini off and coarsely grate into a colander. Stir the salt through and let it sit in the colander. Make sure to put a bowl under the colander as water will drip out and you don’t really want zucchini water dripping all over your kitchen bench.

2| While you’re waiting for the water to extract from the zucchini (amazingly, this does happen), finely slice the spring onions and chop up the capsicum into cube-like pieces (it’s ok if they’re not perfectly cubed – it will add a rustic charm to the fritters). To remove the corn kernels from the corn, cut all the way down the corn cob with a sharp knife, as close to the cob as you can.

3| With the back of a wooden spoon, try to press out as much water from the zucchini as possible. Amazing isn’t it?! Mix in the corn and capsicum. Add freshly cracked pepper. You probably don’t need to add any more salt at this stage. Salty fritters are not really that tasty. Trust me, been there, done that.

4| Mix the egg, flour and baking powder into the vegetable mixture. You’ll see the mixture come start to come together and form kind of a sloppy dough. That’s ok – it’s what you want! Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a fry pan (non-stick skillets work best – less mess!) until it shimmers. Drop small bunches of the vegetable mixture into the skillet, a few at a time, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Flatten the fritters slightly with your spatula – it will make cooking and turning them easier. Cook over a moderately high heat and until the edges are golden, flip them over and cook until the other side is golden.

5| To make tzatziki, mix all ingredients in a bowl and flavour with salt and pepper to your taste. Dollop on fritters before serving.