Corn Pasta

My first experience with corn pasta was at Cotogna here in San Francisco. They make absolutely amazing pasta and so when I was considering working in a restaurant for my cooking school externship, I went and staged there for a night (staging is essentially interning at a restaurant to get a sense for their style and learn from other chefs). The Chef de Cuisine brought me a few of their dishes to taste during that shift and I will never forget that first bite of corn pasta - it blew my mind. It was a triangoli pasta (triangle-shaped stuff pasta) filled with the creamiest corn mixture and just so, so flavorful. The filling was slightly sweet because the corn was so fresh and also had a ton of umami from the perfect addition of cheese. The triangoli were sitting in a delicate buttery corn sauce with some corn kernels tossed in that were just barely cooked - they were warmed through but still had a sweet crunch to them. That bite was absolute heaven.The dish was so extraordinary that I was insistent we make it for our cooking school's "Restaurant Week" (where we essentially opened up a restaurant for a night and served a set menu to some friends and family). I spent 2 weeks with my friends Nora and Kendall making about 300 stuffed corn pastas and it was some of the most fun I've ever had: tweaking the filling to make sure it was just right, making pounds and pounds of pasta dough and shaping enough cappellettis to fill sheet tray after sheet tray. It was the best, and just thinking about it makes me miss cooking school so so much. I have been thinking about that pasta ever since I first had it and have wanted to make a more accessible version for a while. This is a different pasta, more humble, but still super delicious and one that (I think) carries on the torch of the original one. The original pasta sauce was made out of a concentrated corn stock - that takes hours to make so was a no-go, but cooking the leftover corn cobs in the pasta water as it comes to a boil is a pretty good adjustment - not only do you develop some corn flavor in the noodles, but you get more flavorful pasta water for mixing into the sauce (pretty proud of myself for thinking of that method!) Making stuffed pasta was too complicated so I turned what would have been the filling into a creamy sauce. This sauce doesn't even have cream, but when you blend super sweet corn with some good cheese, you get a sauce that is velvety and to die for. And finally, adding in fresh corn at the end was a must - it brings the whole thing together.This is the type of seasonal cooking that I love and the perfect late summer dish. I hope you like it as much as I do! 

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Corn Pasta 

Serves 2-3Ingredients 

• 4 large ears of corn, shucked and kernels removed (4 cups kernels) - keep the remaining cobs! 
• Olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced 
• 2 cloves of garlic 
• Salt and pepper 
• Red pepper flakes 
• 8 oz pasta (I like farfalle for this)
• ¼ cup grated parmesan, plus more to taste 
• ¼ cup mascarpone (could also use cream cheese or thick yogurt)
• 1 tbsp butter
• Basil or chives for garnish 
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:

1. Fill a large pot with water and add the 4 shaved corn cobs. Add enough salt that the water tastes salty as the sea, and bring the entire thing to a boil. 
2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add a glug of olive oil, diced onion and a pinch of salt and cook onions until slightly translucent and starting to caramelize, about 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for about a minute until garlic is fragrant. Add corn kernels from 3 of the 4 ears of corn (save the last cup of fresh corn) and another pinch of salt and saute until just cooked through, about 5 more minutes.
3. In a blender or food processor, add corn and onion mixture, mascarpone, ¼ cup parmesan and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside
4. Add pasta to the boiling corn water and cook until just under al dente - it will finish cooking in the pan with the rest of the ingredients (this is usually about 7-8 minutes, but check your particular pasta brand). Make sure to save at least 1 cup of the pasta water. 
5. When the pasta is just under al dente, add it to the same pan that you cooked the corn in along with a few big spoonfuls of the blended corn mixture and about 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Toss consistently for about 2 minutes until the pasta water is fully absorbed and the sauce has started to come together. Add in a little more of the corn mixture and pasta water and keep tossing until the sauce is the consistency and flavor you want - sometimes I add all of the corn sauce, sometimes I go a little lighter. You do you! What matters most is that you add pasta water along with the corn mixture, because that is what will help bind all the sauce together.
6. When you have the sauce you want, add in the tablespoon of butter, remaining cup of fresh corn and toss everything together a few more times just until the fresh corn is just barely warmed through. Garnish with herbs, a squeeze of lemon juice and enjoy asap!