Simple Summer Supper: Penne with Corn, Tomatoes, and Pesto
This August is so strange. Some days I can almost feel a shift in the air toward cooler days. We’ve slept with the air-conditioner off these past several nights, and someone told me they saw turning leaves (“Dry summer,” explained my brother). But then we’ll get that familiar wall of humidity or a fierce summer thunderstorm. The air-conditioner and sunglasses go back on.
I was at the farmer’s market last Friday. It had been a lovely day. The air was just right, I had spent the morning writing, and I met my co-workers for lunch in a restaurant that transported me to the New England seashore. (I ate a lobster cobb salad which, let’s be real, didn’t hurt.) I went to the market and asked myself what the quintessential elements of summer food were. Corn, tomatoes, basil. I scooped up all three, and figured the rest of it out on the subway ride home.
Very often, the simplest solution is the best. We scratch our head for days trying to figure out the right course of action: what should we make for dinner, how should we rearrange the furniture, how can we cheer up a friend? When the answer comes, we wonder what took so long.
And when the solution doesn’t come so easily, I am trying to remember that, like a road trip, the process of getting “there” is part of the journey. Practice and play are just as important, and actually, pretty damn fun.
Basil Pesto
makes about 1 1/2 cups
from The Art of Simple Food
1 bunch of basil, about 1 cup lightly packed
1 garlic clove, peeled
1/4 cup pine nuts, walnuts, or almonds
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Pulse basil, garlic, nuts, and cheese in a food processor until finely minced. Season with salt. With the machine running, drizzle in olive oil. Toss with pasta as below, or spread on sandwiches or slices of baguette (for canapés) or spoon onto vegetable soup.
Penne with Corn, Tomatoes, and Pesto
No real recipe here, more an idea of what a bounty you can make very simply. Slice kernels off an ear of fresh corn, and halve cherry tomatoes. Toss some of the pesto with hot, cooked whole wheat penne, thinning with pasta cooking water, if necessary. Add corn and tomatoes. Toss again, and serve.
Anne: I have been eating some version of this: tomatoes, basil, mozz, corn, peaches again and again this month. So good.1 year ago
Samantha Angela @ Bikini Birthday: It seems like much of the weather this year has followed that pattern. In the spring I remember people breaking out the shorts and t-shirts one week and putting winter coats back on the next.1 year ago
Anne, do the peaches go in the pasta, or are they dessert? (Is this a dumb question?)1 year ago
Sara Rose: Ok, so you’re coming over to make me this now, right?1 year ago
It’s so easy, make Eva do it!1 year ago
bethh: Wow, this is almost exactly what I made last week! I added some spinach leaves for more color. I also made a LOT of pesto and blended it with cottage cheese to make it go a bit further. YUM.1 year ago
Kristine: Pasta and summer, my two favourite things! I am making this this weekend, thank you!1 year ago
Sara Rose: If I made Eva do it, she’d hand me a bowl with a can of soup, still in it’s can, an ear of corn that was partly shucked, some grass drenched in olive oil, and some wagon wheel noodles that were uncooked. This whole bowl would be drenched in salt, mounds and mounds of salt.1 year ago
domestikate: Your summer is so different to our summer! But I too can feel the change in the air, that cool nip in the morning or evening, a subtle change in the strength of the sunshine. Roll on autumn – I’m ready for it!1 year ago
BB: My husband is obsessed with corn+pesto, so this will definitely be made in our kitchen soon!1 year ago