Pasta with Fresh Corn Pesto

As I write this, I have some bacon sizzling away on the stove, because I am making this for the second time this week.  Yes, it was THAT good.  What an awesome treatment for the amazing fresh corn we have here in NJ.  I normally pick up two ears from the market, or enough for the whole family if we want it down the shore, but I was happy to get the SIX ears needed for this Pasta with Fresh Corn Pesto almost as soon as I saw it.

And bacon!  Oh man, do I love bacon.  One of the few things I missed when I was a vegetarian several years ago was bacon.  YUM.  This recipe has you saute little pieces of bacon until crisp, then pour off most of the fat and use the rest to saute corn kernels cut fresh off the cob with garlic and crushed red pepper flakes.  You reserve some of the cooked kernels, using the rest in an amazing pesto with Parmesan.  We didn't thin the pesto at all when we put it on the pasta - we like our sauces thick and delicious.  We really couldn't imagine why anyone would want to water it down.

For anyone who loves the richness of cream-based sauces like alfredo, but wants to get in a serving of vegetables, this is a great recipe to try.  (Not that this could be considered healthy by any means...) The recipe notes actually state that even people who don't like corn (I didn't know anyone like that existed!) liked this dish.  The bacon is NOT optional by any means.  I feel that it is totally essential to the dish.  There is no way I would ever leave it out.  (I actually used twice the amount the second time around...) I feel the same about the crushed red pepper.  Yes, it was a little spicy, but in a flavorful and not overwhelming way.  You could cut it down, if you have to, but don't cut it out.

This is something I am going to make again and again and again.  I don't buy corn from the grocery store, only from the market, and sadly it will be winter sooner than you think and it won't be available anymore.  For now, I will be enjoying it as much as possible.

Peach and Blackberry Crisp

I had some peaches from the market sitting on my counter, begging to be used.  I didn't want to eat five peaches at that moment and I have been craving a baked fruity dessert for quite some time now.  I recently saw this peach and blackberry cobbler, which got me thinking that I should use the blackberries in my fridge in this baked dessert.  I didn't want to make a cobbler with a biscuit topping, though - I was looking for more of a crisp/strudel type topping.  I visited a few of my favorite recipe sources online and found this plum and peach crisp recipe, which I had wanted to try last year when I first started cooking.  I decided to use that recipe as a base.  I didn't measure the fruit at all, but stuck with the 1/4 cup of sugar.  I think the tartness of the blackberries definitely needed it.  The "crisp" topping was not exactly crisp - it was more like a chewy oatmeal cookie, which was absolutely delicious!  This was a fun, impromptu dessert (and breakfast!) which can definitely be made again and with other fruit as well.  I think some apples would be delicious in the fall/winter - maybe with some cinnamon - the oatmeal cookie-like topping would go great with apple and cinnamon, and maybe I'll add some walnuts too.  There are so many ideas and flavor profiles to play with here!  (I would be happy to take some suggestions, too.)

Cantaloupe Salsa

I have been getting cantaloupe from the market every Friday and when I saw this Cantaloupe Salsa recipe, I was so excited!  It was nice to finally have something to actually DO with cantaloupe besides just eating it by itself or with cottage cheese.

The recipe is simple: cantaloupe, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro and lime juice.  I thought this might be kind of weird, but it was actually better than the tomato salsa with all the same ingredients!  It worked really well.  I thought it looked cool with the blue corn chips, too.  I will be making this again soon!