Meatless Pasta

For dinner today, we had Husband’s brother and his wife, who is currently pregnant. Lately (the last two weeks or so) when she eats meat, the baby doesn’t like it, and makes her sick. So, having this in mind when I was thinking of what we could have for dinner, a friend of mine had this recipe, and sent it along, for me to try. It’s Linguine with Summer Vegetables, and 100% meat free.

3/4 pound linguine (I just used the whole box)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups corn
2 cloves garlic, sliced
Kosher salt and black pepper
2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
2 small zucchini (about 1 pound), cut into thin ribbons with a vegetable peeler (or just sliced with your regular knife at an angle)
2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Reserve ¾ cup of the cooking water; drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Meanwhile, heat oven to 350° F spread the walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet and toast, tossing occasionally, until fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the corn, garlic, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper and cook, tossing occasionally, until the corn is tender, 2 to 4 minutes. Add the corn, tomatoes, zucchini, and ½ cup of the cooking water to the pasta. Cook over medium heat, gently tossing, until the liquid is slightly thickened and coats the pasta, 2 to 3 minutes (adding more cooking water as needed to loosen the sauce) Serve sprinkled with the oregano, walnuts, and goat cheese.

The things I did: Turns out, I didn’t have corn in the house, even though I SWEAR WE DID, so I substituted red bell peppers for that, and walnuts are of the devil, so I just put in almonds for that instead. And I didn’t have any goat cheese, so I just used some parmesan cheese instead. The fancy kind – powdered kind in the can. But this was crazy delicious. I really really liked it. And I felt healthy, because there’s not sauce and hardly any cheese. Make this, my friends.