A Different Kind of Snack/Entree/Tapa

During a visit to The Monday Room in Christchurch a group of friends and I sampled some of their delicious tapas. The stand out for me were the Blue Cheese Polenta Chips- sooo good! After hunting around, I finally came across some instant polenta (becuase let's be honest, no one really wants to stand over the stove for hours stirring the normal stuff) at the Mediterranean Food Company. Here is my most recent suggestion for your next nibble.

Blue Cheese and Thyme Polenta Chips
(accompanied by Paprika Mayo)

1/2 trim milk
1/2 vegetable stock
3/4 cup instant polenta
25g ish blue cheese
Sprinkles of thyme
Olive oil, for frying

For the Paprika Mayo:
A few spoons of mayo
A few dashes of paprika ( I used La Chinata 'Sweet' paprika powder)

Combine milk and stock in a saucepan and bring to simmer over a medium heat.
Remove from heat, and gradually pour in polenta while mixing with a spoon. The mixture should have a porridge like consistency.
Stir in the blue cheese and thyme.
Pour into dish, and place in fridge to set for about 1/2 - 1 hour. Once set, cut into chips.
Heat oil in a pan and fry chips until golden brown. I don't actually recommend frying the chips using the method in the photo (it's for artistic purposes).

For the paprika mayo, mix ingredients in a bowl and add enough paprika to your liking.

This particular recipe used a lot of improvisation so have a bit of fun with it. I found the chips to be a bit dry so would suggest to add some more stock or similar (but not some much it becomes runny). Another recommendation would be to make the chips smaller so you have more to share. However, they were delicious and don't require a lot of confidence to make- so easy!