All the guests had arrived for the pot-luck dinner. There was plenty of food, but the menu was a little unbalanced. There was a lovely baby spinach salad with roasted pecans and dried cranberries and a squash and sausage casserole. Another vegetable, preferably not green would be nice. The following creation emerged from a well-stocked pantry.
1-2 T Olive Oil
3 Cups Frozen Corn
¼ Cup Water
3 Scallions roughly chopped
½ can (about six) peeled plum tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
¼ cup parsley, roughly chopped
2-3 T pesto
½ t salt
¼ – ½ t black pepper Red pepper flakes (optional)
[Note: If fresh corn and/or tomatoes are available, by all means use them. The fresh vegetables would add to the quality of the dish, but would obviously increase preparation time.]
- Heat skillet. (I used a 12 inch skillet to gain as much surface area as possible.)
- Microwave the corn with about ¼ cup water for about 5 minutes.
- While corn is cooking, chop the scallions and garlic.
- Sauté the scallions and garlic in the olive oil until they soften, about one minute.
- If you wish to add a little spiciness to the dish, add red pepper flakes to taste. I would start with ¼ – ½ teaspoon.
- Add the corn and stir or toss.
- Add the tomatoes. (I just crushed the tomatoes in my hand as I added them to the skillet.
- Add pesto. ( I make pesto and freeze it in ice cube trays. I added a single cube of pesto. You can adjust the amount to your own taste.)
- Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Cook only until heated through.
- Add most of the parsley at the last minute, stirring it into the corn and tomato mixture.
- Reserve a small amount of parsley to spring on the top, or garnish with a couple nice sprigs of parsley.