Summer Vegetables with Polenta

We had a wonderful Saturday morning at our local farmer's market this weekend.  I just love the variety and freshness of food you can find there.  We picked up Japanese eggplant, summer squash, Shiitake mushrooms, Beech mushrooms, green beans, corn, cilantro, tomatoes, lettuce and fresh local honey.  Tonight I made this summer vegetable ragout with our finds and of course added some zucchini from our own garden since we have so much of it.  The veggies were flavorful and fresh and so yummy on top of some Parmesan polenta.  yum!

Vegetable Ragout Recipe: (serves 4)
Ingredients
1/2 small white onion, diced
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large zucchini, chopped into 1 inch cubes
2 yellow summer squash, chopped
2 large carrots, sliced thickly at an angle
2 cups mushrooms of your choice, sliced in half
1 Japanese eggplant, peeled and cubed
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves)

Directions:
1. Add onions, garlic and olive oil to a skillet over medium-high heat, saute until translucent, ~1-2 minutes. Add carrot, zucchini, summer squash and a pinch of salt and pepper, stirring, cook about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, eggplant and thyme leaves, reduce heat to medium let sauté about 10-15 minutes until cooked through but still crisp-tender.
 
Polenta Recipe (serves 4) *as published previously on Wholesome Dinner Tonight
Ingredients:
5 cups water
salt
extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup yellow polenta (cornmeal)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 tablespoon butter

Directions
1. Bring 5 cups of water to a boil, add a drizzle of olive oil and pinch of salt
2. To the boiling water, SLOWLY add the polenta, whisking constantly to avoid any lumps. Add Parmesan cheese and butter and lower the heat. Cook, stirring nearly constantly until the polenta gets thick and pulls away from the sides of the pan, usually about 20 minutes.** Don't go too far from the stove, you'll need to stir the polenta often to avoid sticking/burning.
3. Serve hot polenta in soup bowls topped with vegetable ragout.

**Note: a fun alternate way to prepare your polenta is to prepare it as through steps 1-2 above and pour hot polenta into a pie pan or casserole dish, cover and allow to cool (~1 hour).  As it cools it will firm up. 
1. Once it's cooled and firm, slice the polenta into triangles or use a cookie cutter or large ring for circles. 
2. Place the firm polenta on a baking sheet in a 350'F oven and bake for ~15 minutes until heated through and crisp on the edges
3. or grill the firm polenta on a grill pan until heated through and golden brown.  Great technique for a different texture of polenta.