Recipe #19 - Zucchini, Corn, and Basil Fusilli with Bacon

I wanted to make something with zucchini, mainly because I don't have a lot of experience with it and wasn't sure if I even liked it. I think that zucchini, like cauliflower, is not a very memorable veggie. No matter what one do it it seems.

This recipe was super quick and easy. Thirty minutes tops, start to finish. Probably even more quick if you bought pre-cooked bacon.

I started by cooking the bacon in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, turning occasionally, until crisp. Depending on how fatty the bacon, drain on paper towels; discard drippings from skillet.

Meanwhile, cook fusilli in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (3 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water) until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta-cooking water, then add vegetables to pasta in pot and cook, partially covered, 2 minutes (water will stop boiling). Drain.

Add pasta with veggies to skillet along with pesto and 1/4 cup reserved cooking water and toss. Season with salt and moisten with additional cooking water if necessary (in my case it was necessary).

Serve onto a plate then top with crumbled bacon and a generous amount of freshly ground pepper. I also added crumbled feta cheese, which was not part of the original recipe, but definitely added a little something something to it.

Time: 30 minutes
Rating: 7.5
Ingredients:
6 bacon slices
1 pound fusilli pasta (extremely cute pasta)
3 ears corn, kernels cut from cob (I used frozen corn)
1 1/2 pound zucchini, coarsely chopped (1/2 inch pieces)
1 (1- to 7- ounce) container basil pesto