Polenta Bruschetta with Eggplant & Mozzarella

With so many ripe tomatoes from my garden I absolutely had to make some bruschetta. Unfortunately i didn't ave time to bake a baguette so I decided to use polenta, which was a GREAT idea. I also had an eggplant laying around and decided it would make a great combo! 

Bruschetta Topping

• 4- 5 medium tomatoes
• 3 garlic cloves, diced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 5-6 basil leaves
• S&P

Heat a small sauce pan on med/low heat and add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot add the garlic and cook for about 4 minutes or until fragrant. Reduce to lowest setting and let it sit for 10 minutes. While this is infusing chop the tomatoes and basil then place into a small mixing bowl. Add the infused olive oil to the tomato basil mixture, season with S&P and set aside.

• 1 tube of pre-cooked polenta, sliced into disks  
• 1 Japanese eggplant, peeled and cut oval and circle disks 
• 4 oz of buffalo mozzarella, sliced thin ( small enough to fit on polenta disks)

Preheat the oven to 400. Slice the polenta into disks and place on an oiled non-stick baking pan. Place a slice of mozzarella on each polenta slice then place the eggplant. Brush or spray the eggplant with a touch of olive oil and bake for 20 minutes. 

Remove from the oven, top with bruschetta topping and serve immediately.  YUMMM! 

Notes: The eggplant skin can become quite hard during this cooking process so peeling the eggplant is the way to go. You can use regular eggplant but Japanese eggplants make smaller rounds for the polenta.