Ingredients

• 6 ears corn
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 pound small yellow summer squash, diced 1/2 inch
• 2 pounds very ripe tomatoes, skinned and coarsly chopped
• 1 large handful basil leaves, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 pound shell pasta
• 3/4 pound green beans, preferably flat Romano type, cut in 1 inch lengths
• 3 tablespoons butter
• Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Instructions

1. Heat large kettle of water over high heat. Cut corn kernels from ears into bowl, then scrape cobs over bowl with dull side of knife to extract juice. Place cobs in kettle and boil gently.
2. Heat oil in deep, wide pan over medium-low heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring until tender and just starting to turn color, about five minutes. Add squash, raise heat to medium-high and stir-fry until squash is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes to skillet along with the basil.  Reduce heat to low.
4. Remove corn cobs from water. Add salt to water. Drop in pasta slowly and cook until roughly 2/3 done, about 8 minutes. Add green beans and continue cooking until pasta is al dente and beans are tender. Drain off water, return pasta and beans to pot and stir in butter.
5. Add reserved corn kernels to tomato-squash sauce. Stir well, then add sauce to pasta pot and toss until combined. Serve at once, accompanied by Parmesan Cheese.

Comments

This is an ideal way to feed a lot of people quickly with the bounty of the late summer garden.  Unlike classic Italian pasta dishes, this one almost has as much sauce as noodles, so be sure to have a crusty loaf of bread to accompany the dish.  Meat in the sauce would unbalance the flavors, so if you must have meat to make it a meal, serve is as an hors d’oeurve.  Prosciutto and melon would be a good choice, as would garlic sausage and olives, cold smoked chicken…..anything piquant and salty.