Polenta chips with garlicky chipotle beans

In my cosy home, garlic is an important ingredient. I always have some in the kitchen. I use it a lot in my cooking, a bit like onions. In fact, garlic belongs to the Alliaceae family of vegetables to which onions, shallots, leeks and chives also belong. Garlic is known for its distinct smell and unique taste. Garlic has been used throughout history, not just to ward of vampires but for medicinal and culinary purposes too. For me though, the most interesting thing about garlic is that it is rarely used in traditional British cooking, yet it is a common ingredient in Mediterranean Europe or cuisines of the Indian Sub-continent. One of the most common ways of consuming garlic without knowing it is when it is cooked with other ingredients such as ginger, onions and herbs as a sauce base, leaving a mellow background flavour. However, there are many other ways to eat garlic. It can be roasted, which sweetens the cloves. I have done this many times, once for a garlic and shallot risotto, or it can be crushed raw into hummus. The flavour can be either subtle or intense, it completely depends on you and how you like it. Of course, you may not like it at all.
I’ve grown garlic twice, the first time in my garden plot and they were small and I blamed the soil, and then last year at the allotment, they were still small and the cloves were such a pain to peel. I intend to plant them this month and due to circumstances grow them in pots and will leave enough space between them, let see if I have better luck with them this time round.

For this dish, I have used the last of my allotment grown garlic. I am submitting this recipe into WHB#219. This weeks host is Simona from Briciole. The weekly food blog event showcases information and recipes about herbs, vegetables, fruits and other plant ingredients. WHB initiated four years ago by Kalyn's Kitchen, it is now organized by Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once.
I had some slabs of polenta left over from a meal early in the week, and decided to make some fancy chips and serve them with beans, but not beans as you know it. This was garlicky chipotle beans with polenta chips. To make more of a meal of this, serve it with a fried egg, if you wish. Who says vegetarian food is bland?! This was very, very tasty.

Polenta chips with garlicky chipotle beans
For the polenta chips
Ready made polenta, sliced and cut into chip pieces
1 egg, beaten
Breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil shallow frying
Method
Dip the polenta chips first in the egg, so well coated then evenly cover with breadcrumbs. Shallow fry in hot oil until golden on all sides. Leave in oven on low heat to stay warm if you wish.
For the beans
100ml olive oil
2-4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 x 400g tin of Mexican bean mix, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
1 tablespoon tomato puree
½ tin, about 200g of chopped tomatoes
2 – 3 spring onions, chopped
A handful of rocket, watercress and spinach, roughly chopped (yes it was organically grown in the U.K)
salt to taste
Method
Heat the oil in a frying pan with the garlic over low heat until the garlic begins to turn translucent. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree and chipotle pepper sauce and heat through for about 10 minutes, then add the beans and heat through for a few minutes. Add the spring onions and greens, cook until they wilt, then season with salt and pepper. Divide between individual plates.