It’s time for another great pasta recipe! This one tastes like summer with juicy sweet corn, fresh cherry tomatoes, loads of basil and pesto and all finished with creamy buffalo mozzarella. Yum! I’ve been really into pasta lately. I try to limit it to once a week but sometimes I want to have it twice because there’s just so many different sauce variations you can do and it’s such a great low effort meal. My solution? Zucchini noodles! But not just zucchini noodles, it’s got to be a mix of REAL pasta and zoodles so I’m still satisfying those carb cravings.
The other good thing about zoodles is not only do they lighten up the whole meal because you’re having less pasta they also add an extra vegetable to your meal. You could double the amount of zucchini in this recipe and add a little extra pesto if you want a really BIG bowl of pasta without feeling like you just ate your weight in it. Because really your just eating a whole zucchini and a small serve of pasta. Ideal, extra veg!
I have included the instructions for making your own roast almond based pesto. This is my second recipe this week with this pesto and if you make the Chicken Salad and this in one week you will only need to make the pesto once. Or you can just buy it! That’s in bold for you time poor people who are skim reading this.
Also, I’ve included a little note about using bacon in this. If you don’t want to have it as a vegetarian dish or like me, your dad occasionally gifts you his home cured and smoked bacon, then you can throw a little bacon in here too. The flavour is actually amazing with the charred sweet corn.
There’s nothing not to like about this pasta it’s easy to make, full of flavour and just look at those colours together!
Remember if your gluten intolerant or wheat sensitive you can easily use gluten free pasta such as a lentil based one or a spelt flour pasta if you’re just a little sensitive.
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 x zucchini
150 g Bucatini Pasta (or linguini)
2 full cobs of corn
1 Tbs olive oil (or use 4 small rashers of streaky bacon)
250g cherry tomatoes, chopped into quarters or halves
1 cup basil
Buffalo mozzarella, torn into bite sized pieces
Pesto (if making your own, if not a small jar will do as you only need 3-4 Tablespoons)
1/2 cup almonds
1.5 cups basil
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon
2 tsp chilli flakes
2 Tbs olive oil
3 Tbs water
Directions
Make Pesto: Place all the pesto ingredients excluding the water in a mini food processor. Blend until smooth and then with the machine running add water in a steady stream. Check seasoning and season with a pinch of pepper and salt if required (this will depend on the parmesan). Set aside.
Spiralize your zucchini using a spiralizer. If you don’t have one you can just use a vegetable peeler to make ribbons of zucchini instead.
Bring a big pot of salted water to the boil for your pasta. Place a steaming basket over it and steam the corn for 15 minutes. Once steamed charr slightly on a grill plate or cast iron pan or by holding it (with tongs) over the open flame on your cook top if you have gas. Or on the BBQ! Once cool enough to hold cut the kernels form the cob and set aside.
Cook pasta for recommended time on the packet.
Meanwhile heat olive oil in the base of a medium pan and add tomatoes. (* see below for bacon instructions ) Cook for two minutes. Remove from heat and place in a big bowl, big enough to hold all the pasta and toss. Add the corn and 3/4 of the buffalo mozzarella, and 3 heaped tablespoons of pesto.
Drain pasta, setting aside 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Add the pasta to your big bowl of ingredients along with the zucchini noodles and toss to coat in the cheese, pesto corn and tomatoes. Now add 3/4 of the basil and toss again. And a little of the pasta water if it looks dry.
Serve with remaining basil and mozzarella on top and leftover pesto on the side. Season with freshly grated pepper and a little salt.
HH. x
*If using bacon, finely dice 4 rashers and add those to the pan instead of oil, once golden add the tomatoes and cook for two minutes.
