What a tasty meal this was. The arugula pesto was especially nice in combination with the fava beans and asparagus.

Corn Macaroni with Fava Beans, Aspargus and Rucola Pesto

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups macaroni (we used corn macaroni)
  • 2 cups fava beans, peeled and blanched
  • 6 nice green asparagus spears

for the pesto:

  • 2 large handfuls arugula, cleaned and spun dry
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 3-5 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped (or pine nuts)
  • pinch salt
  • splash lemon juice
  • pinch Cajun seasonings (optional)

Directions:

make the pesto first:

  1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.
  2. Place in a bowl until later.

and then:

  1. Prepare the asparagus by cutting the tough woody end off, then slicing on the diagonal about 1 inch pieces.
  2. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to boil.
  3. Cook the asparagus until al dente.
  4. Remove from the pot of water and place in a bowl.
  5. Put the peeled fava beans in the same boiling salted water and cook until al dente (when they begin to float – about 3 minutes or so).
  6. Remove from the water and place in a bowl.
  7. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil and cook the macaroni.
  8. When the macaroni is cooked, drain off the water.
  9. Add most of the pesto and mix well.
  10. Gently add in the asparagus and fava beans.
  11. Serve the macaroni with dollops of pesto.

Notes:

Any macaroni is fine. We were happy to find this unusual biological corn macaroni at a health food store.