Monday, September 23, 2013

When Life Hands You Lemons...or Tomatoes and Corn

You know that old saying: "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade...?" Anyone who knows me knows that that is pretty much the life philosophy I follow on a daily basis...I never let anything aggravate me because really, what's the point? Complain - you'll never hear a complaint from me. Bitch and moan? You've got the wrong guy.

OK - now that that's out of the way, back to lemons and lemonade.  Or in this case...
And...
Yep - tomatoes and corn, because that's what I found when I rode up to the green market on Friday morning.  The green market is great this time of year...there's still plenty of summer's bounty (see above) and the fall fruits and vegetables are showing up.  The same guy with those weird looking tomatoes also had this...
This farmer is all about trying to grow vegetables (in Roscoe, NY) similar to those grown around Naples and Mt. Vesuvius. More power to him.  Spigarelli is a cultivar of broccoli rabe - the leaves excellent braised with garlic and red pepper flakes.

And what about the corn and tomatoes?  Simple -  I scraped the corn off the cob and sautéed it in some olive oil and garlic, cut up a few heirloom cherry/grape tomatoes, and then tossed the whole lot with orzo pasta and a few handfuls of freshly grated parmesan...
It wasn't lemonade, but as Significant Eater declared: "This is delicious!"

Orzo with Tomatoes and Corn

1/2 lb. orzo pasta
1/2 lb. great cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 ears corn, corn scraped off
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 T ev olive oil
2 T chopped parsley
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
S & P

Bring salted water to a boil. Cook orzo. At the same time, gently heat the garlic in the olive oil in a frying pan.  Throw corn in as orzo approaches doneness, then drain orzo (by now you know to save at least a cup of pasta water, right?) and throw orzo into the pan along with tomatoes and parsley.  Turn off heat and start adding cheese and a bit of pasta water and tossing. Taste for doneness and seasoning. Keep going till it tastes right and the pasta is barely al dente.  Serves 2 hungry peeps.

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