cool pasta for hot days

When it gets over 100 (well maybe over 90) degrees for days on end the last thing I want to do is heat the house up even further with cooking. I know grilling is the summer standby, but that often seems like a lot of time and charcoal for just the two of us, and I still haven't quite mastered grilling vegetables.

Plus I'd usually prefer something crisp and cool.

So last week I wanted pesto, but a lighter less time intensive version, so I made this take on the easy-pasta-and-stuff dinner, and was really happy with how tasty it came out. (I know it's a bias but I'm always secretly delighted when I make something vegan that is delicious.)




You'll need:

• 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp almond butter
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 1 cup finely chopped basil
• 2 or 3 cloves minced garlic
  
• 1/2 cucumber cut into thin flat wedges
  
• 1 large tomato roughly chopped
• 1 ear corn, kernels cut from the cob
• enough pasta for two, I used good old spaghetti
• plenty of salt & fresh ground pepper (I have a shaker filled w/a mix of kosher and dead sea salts, and can really tell the flavoring difference over regular table salt)
  

1. put pasta water on to boil
2. meanwhile whisk oil, garlic, almond butter, vinegar, basil and a pinch of salt in a large bowl
3. let "pesto" marinate a bit
4. just before pasta finishes cooking, toss tomatoes, cucumber and corn with pesto
5. drain cooked pasta and immediately toss hot pasta in bowl with pesto vegetable mixture.
6. season with salt and lots of pepper
   

Enjoy!