Anyway. Here’s proof of what I did. You don’t have to put the same vegetables in, you can probably put in bell pepper, eggplant, cauliflower florets… anything you like really. Just make it with love and serve hot.
It was a beautiful day on the beach. Saw a very strange tree along the way on UBC campus… it was a tree that grew partially in the ground, someone dug up then planted upside down. What you see are the roots of the tree all twisting and turning in the air. Pretty cool, eh?
Final Product:
Ingredients:
1 bag of whole wheat rotini (or any other pasta you’d like…gnocchi would be good, penne, whatever)
1 fresh Corn, de-husked and kernels cut off.
1 medium sized zucchini
1/2 white onion
2-3 mushrooms, chopped
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup Classic Genoese Pesto
2 cups of your favourite tomato sauce
A small handful of fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste.
1. Bring a pot of water to boil and salt the water.
2. Heat up your favourite tomato sauce to a simmer on low heat.
3. Dice an onion. First, slice the onion twice perpendicular to the stem but don't cut through all the way, leave the bottom intact, then lay the onion flat and cut lengthwise in small strips but not cutting all the way to the back of the onion. Then, cut across the grain from that… to dice them in to the pieces the size that you want. The part of the onion that you didn’t cut all the way, you can dice up at the very end. (Sorry, this is a really bad description of how to do this, but hopefully you can get it by the pictures)
4. Heat up a pan with a table spoon of oil and add onions.
5. Slice up the mushrooms according to the pictures. Slice in one direction then cut them the other direction…(this is really hard to say in words). Add this to the pan.
6. The water should be boiling by now, so add your dry pasta. Remember to stir it now and again and taste it in about 8-10 minutes to see if it’s done.
7. Chop the zucchini into 1/4” pieces. Again, follow the pictures. Cut the top and bottom of zucchini off and discard. Cut it in half lengthwise, Cut it in half again. Chop crosswise to get little chunks of zucchini. Add to pan and stir around.
8. Add about a half teaspoon of salt and add a dash or two of ground pepper. (I wish I had a pepper mill… freshly cracked is the best)
9. De-husk the corn and cut the kernels off and add to pan. Sautee until all vegetables go browned and the onion goes a little translucent.
10. Add some red wine to the pan.
11. Add the simmering tomato sauce.
12. Add the pesto
13. Mix it all up.
14. Drain the pasta and add to pan and toss to evenly coat each noodle.
15. Chop some basil and add to the pasta and mix.
16. Sprinkle with a little grated parmesan, drizzle with a little more pesto on top, and sprinkle with some basil for garnish.
I know this doesn't look very tomato saucy but I did this on purpose for packing for the beach because I didn't want the pasta to be sitting in a lot of liquid and getting soggy on the way. The amount that I said to put in, in the recipe will give you a thicker sauce. You can always put more or less depending on how you like your pasta.
All packed up for the beach. (Don’t do what I did… it wasn’t really picnic food… just enjoy it in the comfort of your own home while it’s steaming hot and the cheese is melting)
What did I pack on the picnic? This pasta, some cut up fruit (honeydew, watermelon and papaya), carrot sticks and cucumber sticks and in the “Chinese Take Out Container” were Chocolate coconut macaroons.
I want. NOW
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