The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude. - Friedrich Nietzsche

A girl's night was long overdue-a night to put aside dating and boyfriends. We contemplated going out middle of the week for a nice dinner, but I suggested my roof-top to enjoy the last of the warm summer nights. It wasn't until the night before that my friends let me know that as hostess, I was responsible for choosing a theme and menu and had to delegate tasks to others. Under pressure, I went for an easy Italian tapas theme. Maybe I was inspired by Julia Roberts in Italy in Eat, Pray, Love or, I was just craving a nice, rich Chianti. Giada's recipes ran through my mind-Should I make ravioli, a summer orzo salad, eggplant parmasean? Before heading to the grocery store, I decided on a simple robust antipasto platter. It's easy, good for vegetarians and keeps with the tapas theme. BUT, I of course changed my mind as soon as I entered Trader Joes. I found polenta and from there picked up tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, eggplant, garlic, rustic bread, artichokes, roasted red peppers and olives. I was going to build a capresse & polenta napoleon with eggplant! While I usually hesitate with polenta since it's not a familiar staple for me, I am now excited by it and hope to make my own soon and try some other recipes. But, there was no time for that. The already made polenta in a log at Trader Joes works perfectly. Just slice and bake or lightly fry in a skillet with olive oil.

With my friends coming over in 30 minutes, I quickly plated some tapas for them to enjoy while I slaved over a hot stove and oven on a 97 degree day. I toasted the sliced baguette and rubbed each side with a garlic clove. A small antipasto plate of olives, marinated artichokes and roasted red pepper was set out along with a fresh capresse salad-mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. I also blended a quick roasted red pepper & basil dressing for dipping or drizzling. As guests, my friends were responsible for opening and pouring wine. They contently devoured the appetizers and sipped on wine as I anxiously experimented with polenta for the first time.


It was darker than I anticipated by the time we made it to the roof, but it turned out to be a wonderful dinner and great company. It was a perfect ending with prosecco and beautiful cupcakes (for my cupcake-obsessed friend's pre-birthday celebration) from the Cupcake Cafe. . . veering off a bit from the Italian theme. . .



Capresse & polenta napoleon with eggplant:


Wash and slice eggplant about 1 inch in thickness. Season with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake for about 40 minutes .. . until they begin to soften.


In a lightly oiled baking dish, place the sliced polenta on the bottom and a slice of roma tomato on each one. Thinly slice cloves of garlic, and place a slice in each tomato. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes, remove and cover each polenta with a slice of fresh mozzarella and bake for another 10 minutes.


Remove the baking dish from the oven and assemble as follows: eggplant, polenta (with tomato, garlic and mozzarella), a basil leaf, eggplant, polenta (with tomatoe, garlic and mozzarella). You could maybe stick another small basil leaf on the top, but I liked the golden brown mozzarella topping. Place back in the oven for another 5 minutes.


I ended up pouring some of the roasted red pepper dressing on top. The recipe is pretty basic but delicious and looks great. Next time, I would consider roasting thick slices of red onion and maybe even a zucchini and adding that to the tower and a sprinkle of parmasean shavings.

Cin Cin!!