Meatless Monday: Polenta breakfast wraps

Once a week two of my friends and I cook a dinner together. We try to make dishes we wouldn’t on our own, or at least, haven’t before. Sometimes we wing it, but more often that not, we pull recipes from “The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook” (by Australian publisher Murdoch Books – I love this cookbook particularly for its beautiful, full-color photographs of each recipe).

A favorite so far has been the book’s “Mexican Polenta Pancakes with Avocado”: cornmeal pancakes stuffed with what is essentially guacamole. I have a weakness for avocado – so I expected to love the dish – but what surprised me most were the polenta pancakes. The batter and end consistency resembled that of crepes, but tasted more like a moist corn tortilla. They were so delicious that I ate most of the leftover pancakes plain.

The few that survived the night became breakfast wraps for scrambled eggs, with a bit of tomato and green onion, and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese.

Polenta breakfast wraps

Pancake recipe from “The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook"
Makes 2 wraps (with several pancakes leftover for dinner and snacks)

Polenta pancakes:

1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 ounces butter, melted
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Sift corn meal, flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar into a bowl and make a well in the center. Beat together buttermilk, eggs, and butter and pour into dry ingredients. Mix well, until batter is lump-free.

Brush a frying pan with oil. When hot, pour on a thin layer of batter, just covering the pan. Cook over medium heat until the underside is a golden color. Flip and cook the other side. Repeat with remain batter. Serve warm.

Egg wrap:

2 polenta pancakes
4 eggs
1 small tomato, diced
1 green onion, chopped
Shredded cheddar cheese , to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste

Scramble eggs in a frying pan. Serve on warm polenta pancakes with tomato, green onion, cheese, salt, and pepper. Enjoy!

– Nora Dunne is a Monitor contributor.