30 Minute Loaded Pasta

Weekends are my time to get busy in the kitchen.  Long cooking stews, fancy salads and creative desserts get tested, tasted and devoured.  But weeknights are hectic, I'm hungry and time is short.  Did I just describe your weeknights, too?  Take-out meals are a rare event here and I much prefer to cook my own food.  But weeknight meals have to be simple, quick and use a minimum of pots and pans.  So, when the folks at OXO and Plated invited me to participate in the Very Vegetarian Recipe Challenge and asked for a quick easy, yet nutritionally sound, dinner idea, I knew it was right up my alley.

To help facilitate the recipe, OXO sent me a selection of their kitchen tools and several of them came in very handy.  A pot to cook some pasta, my favorite cast iron pan and some fresh veggies I picked up on my way home all came together easily.  I like to build layers of flavor, even in a quick cooking meal and this dish was wonderfully complex tasting despite being simple to prepare.  I made it for the challenge and then made again a few more times last week just because it was such a delicious dinner.  Enjoy!





Ingredients
8 oz. Fettuccine
2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 Cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Kernels from 2 ears of corn
1 Clove garlic, peeled and minced
8 Cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 Zucchini, peeled
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh basil
Salt & pepper to taste
1/4 Cup Parmesan cheese, grated

The OXO corn husker makes it easy to quickly remove the kernels.

Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water for approximately 12 minutes or as per package directions.  While it's cooking, add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to a cast iron pan, add the chickpeas and corn and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes.

The OXO hand held mandolin cuts thin, even slices.

Cut the zucchini into thin slices.  Remove the chickpeas and corn from the pan and set aside.  Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and add the garlic and tomatoes.  Saute on low heat for about 5 minutes.  Return the chickpeas and corn to the pan and add the zucchini.  Continue cooking on medium heat for a couple more minutes.

The OXO tongs make is easy to toss ingredients together.

When the pasta is cooked, drain in a colander and add it to the cast iron pan.  Use a pair of tongs to toss the pasta into the remainder of the pan ingredients, season with salt and pepper, add the Parmesan cheese and the basil.  Makes 2 servings.


Note:  Although OXO provided me with complimentary tools, I was under no obligation to use them or create a recipe for the challenge.