Pasta with a Corn Pesto

I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I'm taking my desire to try all kinds of cool things with corn a little too far.  Up until now, things have turned out pretty dern, yummy, but this week, I've hit a so-so dish.  I'm not sure what I could do to make it better (maybe less pine nuts?), but we weren't thrilled with this dish.  Really makes you wonder why I'm sharing it, huh?  I guess the need to blog or something.  It wasn't that bad, but then again, it wasn't great either.  I think that the work-of-making-your-own-pesto to results ratio is just not in this dish's favor.  Oh well!  We did serve it with grilled chicken that I coated with dijon mustard which turned out pretty good (minus the small piece that I overcooked).  Anyway, here's the recipe from epicurious.com, and here's what I did!

Pasta with a Corn Pesto

Ingredients

8 oz whole grain pasta (we used linguine)

4 cups corn (either fresh or canned...I used 2 cans of no salt added sweet corn)

5 slices of low sodium bacon

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3/4 cup fresh basil, coarsely torn

1/3 extra virgin olive oil

1/3 toasted pine nuts

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 sweet onion, chopped

Directions

Cool bacon in a non-stick skillet.  Place on a plate covered with a paper towel to drain grease.  Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease and saute the onions in it.  Remove the onions and add them to the plate with the bacon.   

Add corn, garlic, salt, and  pepper to drippings in skillet. Sauté over medium-high heat until corn is just tender but not brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer 1 1/2 cups corn kernels to small bowl and reserve. Scrape remaining corn mixture into processor. Add 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup fresh basil and pine nuts.  Add olive oil and blend until pesto is almost smooth. Set pesto aside.

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 1/2 cups pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot. Toss pasta mixture over medium heat until warmed through, adding reserved pasta cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls to thin to desired consistency (I used about 1/2 cup).  Mix in onions, bacon and remaining basil and corn.  Season pasta to taste with salt and pepper. 

Enjoy!

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 1/4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

8 ounces tagliatelle or fettuccine

3/4 cup coarsely torn fresh basil leaves, divided

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tagliatelle-with-Fresh-Corn-Pesto-360209#ixzz0vZEvRD73

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 1/4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

8 ounces tagliatelle or fettuccine

3/4 cup coarsely torn fresh basil leaves, divided

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tagliatelle-with-Fresh-Corn-Pesto-360209#ixzz0vZEvRD73

Grilled Salmon with Roasted Corn Relish

For the past few weeks, I've actually been working out and trying to do something about the weight that I've put on since I went to nursing school.  Last week, I told Rick that we were going on a diet, and he wasn't too thrilled.  He told me that diets never worked, but I'm not talking about some fad diet.  I'm talking about eating better.  One of the good things about living in the Lowcountry is that the warm weather allows us to grill for more months than some of my more Northern friends.  Unfortunately, though, we are now entering what I like to call the "Oppressively Hot" time of the year.  It starts around my birthday (which is next week, btw) and goes until some time toward the end of August.  Luckily, the evenings aren't so bad which makes it a little bit easier to eat healthier!

For dinner last night, I was browsing the Cooking Light recipes on myrecipes.com when I came across this recipe.  Ever since I made that chicken with corn salsa, I'm a sucker for anything with a corn salsa or relish or whatever the recipe wants to call the corn goodness on top! I actually used the chicken with corn salsa recipe to help me out a bit because I didn't have the Anaheim peppers like the original recipe called for (and I also decided to add a minced garlic clove, too...I can't help it!!!). I did end up using the leftover relish on chicken tonight (it makes a lot!), and it was quite yummy!!  

Here's what I did...

Grilled Salmon with Roasted Corn Relish

Ingredients 

1 tablespoon, seeded jalapenos, chopped

Butter

3  shucked ears corn

1 can diced tomato, drained

1/4  cup chopped fresh cilantro

Juice from 2 limes
1 clove of garlic, minced

1  teaspoon  salt, divided

1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper, divided

1  teaspoon  ground cumin

1 pound skinless salmon fillets

Directions

Butter corn.  Place corn on grill rack (I used a grill basket that I use for all the veggies that we do all our veggies on) ; grill  until lightly browned, turning occasionally. Cool and cut kernels from cobs.

Combine jalapenos, corn, garlic, tomato, cilantro, and juice; toss gently. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.

Combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and cumin, stirring well. Rub spice mixture evenly over both sides of salmon. Place salmon on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Serve with relish.

Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Corn Salsa

As my final semester of nursing school moves forward, I'm wishing that I had more evenings to cook for Rick and I, but with clinicals that start at 6:45 am, I am cooking more for myself than us. At least I have Ty and Weezy to keep me company now. Too bad, they don't have thumbs, or I'd have them chopping, too!

I've also decided to start eating more healthy dishes. This one is one of the first lower fat meals that I've tried in a long time. I'm of the belief that just because it's healthy, it doesn't have to taste like crap. I turned to my favorite place on the internet for recipes, epicurious.com in search of the perfect meal. I've been craving grilled chicken lately, and when I stumbled across this recipe, I knew that it would be the perfect way to use up some of the chicken that I bought on sale at Publix this weekend.

I did the marinade for the chicken first, and I opted to stray from the recipe and use Corona Light instead of dark beer. I also added two gloves of garlic and doubled the amount of low sodium soy sauce. I let two chicken breasts marinate for two hours and thirty minutes.

The corn salsa...all I can say is wow! Once I got it together, I sampled it with some tortilla chips, and it was as awesome as the recipe reviews say! It was a struggle not to continue eating it all. I immediately called Rick and told him how delicious it was! I foresee myself making it again in the very near future!!! I did use the juice of half a lime (had to do something with the other half of lime that I had) and added one clove of minced garlic.

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Corn Salsa

Ingredients
Salsa

• 1 1/4 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• juice of half of a lime
  
• 2 teaspoons chopped seeded jalapeño chili
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
  

Chicken

• 1/2 cup Corona Light
  
• 2 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 teaspoons chopped seeded jalapeño chili
• juice of half of a lime
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  
• 4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves

Directions

For Salsa:
Combine all ingredients in bowl. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover and chill.)

For Chicken:
Combine first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Add chicken and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours.

Preheat barbecue (medium-high heat) or preheat broiler. Drain chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Grill or broil chicken until just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Cut chicken into thin diagonal slices. Arrange chicken on plates. Top with salsa and serve.