Friday, July 20, 2012

Corn Pesto Pasta

Last night I ended up making a really amazing dish that I just threw together with ingredients I had on hand.  In my CSA share this week I got 3 ears of corn and a giant zucchini.  I really wanted to use the corn quickly because I was worried it wouldn't last, but I didn't have any proteins I could serve it with on the cob.

I thought about making a pesto with the zucchini, but the pictures I saw online didn't appeal to me.  Then I realized I could probably do the same thing with the corn!  It turned out really well, and was very easy.  This recipe is a little higher in points than most that I post, but you could serve a smaller serving of pasta and bulk it up with more vegetables and it would still be excellent.

This is really not a very attractive
dish, but it was so good!
Corn Pesto Pasta
Serves 2 - 14 WW Points Plus Per Serving

4 ounces pasta, cooked al dente and drained
3 ears of corn, kernels removed from the cob
1 small zucchini or 1/2 a large zucchini, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, diced
1/8 cup olive oil
10 hazelnuts
lime
salt
Parmesan (optional, and not calculated into the points)

While your pasta (use a short pasta with nooks and crannies to catch the sauce) is cooking, heat about 1/2 a tablespoon from your olive oil in a nonstick pan.  Saute 2/3 of the corn you removed from the cob and the garlic for 3-4 minutes, or until just fragrant.  Put in a small food processor or cup that you can use a hand held blender in.

Pour in almost all of the rest of the olive oil, but reserve 1/2 a tablespoon. Put in the hazelnuts and squeeze the lime juice in with the corn/garlic mixture, season with salt and puree until almost smooth.

In the same pan you cooked the corn in, put the remaining 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, and once hot saute the zucchini for about 5 minutes.  Put in the remaining corn to cook.

When your pasta is finished cooking, drain and stir into the pan with the zucchini and corn.

To serve, split the pasta/zucchini/corn mixture into two bowls, then top with 1/2 the corn pesto on each serving.  Sprinkle with a little Parmesan if you wan.


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