Farm Fresh

Farm fresh: Empire apples.

One of our  babies reaches
high to pick her
afternoon snack.

Today, our little family spent the day at the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains, and picked pounds and pounds of fresh apples. Red Delicious, Green Delicious, Empires, Romes, Crispins, Ida Reds .... All of them at the peak of flavor, all of them crisp, juicy and delicious.

Although we go to a local Farmers' Market several times a month, there's nothing quite like walking through an orchard and taking your pick. Farm fresh.

The kiddos (3 years old and 20 months) are just old enough to really get into it this year. Taking these little trips give the girls a real understanding of their food, and encourages them to want to eat something they may never have tried in the past. The littlest (pictured right) loved picking her apples. And, for the first time, actually ate one, then another, and then a third. (She was partial to applesauce before.) 

In addition to the apples, we picked up some scrumptious end-of-season corn, and tonight I treated the family to a tagleatelle pasta with fresh corn pesto. This will be our last of this in 2012, so we thoroughly enjoyed every bite.

We're looking forward to making even more special memories with the kids this fall. 

* * *

Tagleatelle with
fresh corn pesto.

Corn Pesto

Bacon (4 thick slices) or pancetta

5-6 ears fresh corn

Garlic

Pine nuts or walnuts

Olive oil

Tagleatelle pasta

Basil

Parmesean cheese

• Crisp bacon/pancetta. Take out from pan and let cool on paper towel.
• In the same pan, add garlic. Cook for one or two minutes. 
• Add corn. Sauté for a few minutes. Turn off heat. 
• Remove half corn/garlic, set aside. 
• Move the remaining corn/garlic to a blender. Add 1/4-1/3 cup parmesean cheese, 1/3-1/2 cup olive oil and 1/4 pine nuts or walnuts.
• Blend until smooth.
• Cook pasta. Before draining the pasta, save 2 cups pasta water. 
• Put pasta back in the pan (no heat), add pesto from blender. Thin with pasta water. When you're happy with consistency, add back the corn/garlic and the bacon/pancetta. 
• Add a generous amount of fresh basil. Toss gently. 
• Season with salt and pepper. 
• Top with fresh grated parmesean.