Pasta with Corn Sauce
My hobby: making pasta sauces out of vegetables besides tomatoes. I’ve done it with red peppers, carrots, and now corn. I’m obsessed with summer corn this time of the year, and for good reason, it just tastes so damn good! I always get happy when I can think of a fun unique corn recipe, because most of the time I just eat it off the cob and don’t get to feature it on the site. This sauce came out really sweet because of the sweet nature of corn and carrots. Overall it was really awesome and balanced with the cheese and bacon, but once in awhile you would get a bite that was a little too sweet.
Getting the corn off all the cobs.
Make sure to also scrape to get all the juices out.
This yummy stuff is the result of the scraping.
Lot’s of juice already built up.
Let the cobs simmer in some milk for about an hour just to get more of that deep corn flavor.
The corn-milk goes into the kernals and gets blended. mmm.
The testure is a little off at this point because of the parts of the corn that don’t wanna blend smooth. That’s ok, it will work itself out in the sauce.
Ok, time to build the sauce. Carrot and onion, followed by garlic and habanero.
Then the corn goes in.
Bring it to a simmer, then kill the heat and add some cooked bacon, cilantro, and cotija cheese.
Toss int he pasta and you are good to go!
This tasted like nothing I have ever eaten really.
So thoroughly corn flavored, sweeter than I expected, with a nice subtle smoke and spice from the bacon and habanero.
Pasta with Corn Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 pound pasta
- 7 ears of corn
- 1/2 pound carrots large dice
- 1 and 1/2 onions diced
- 4 habaneros seeded and minced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 pound bacon
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 cup crumbled cotija
- 2 cups milk
Instructions
- remove the kernels from the corn cobs. Scrape the cobs with the back of your knife to make sure to get all the corny goodness. Add the cobs and milk with a little salt to a saucepot and allow to very lightly simmer for at least an hour. Strain and discard the cobs but keep the milk. Mix the milk into the kernels and their juices and puree as best you can. It might look like curdled milk at this point, but it’s just the remaining pieces of corn that won’t break down.
- Get some salted pasta water boiling.
- Cook the bacon and remove from the pan. Remove the excess bacon fat, leaving about a tablespoon. Add a tablespoon of butter to the bacon, then toss in the carrots and onions. Cook a good 15 minutes to lightly brown. Add the habaneros and garlic and cook 2 minutes. Pour in the corn mixture and stir, getting any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Bring this mixture to a light simmer, then remove from heat. This would be a good time to drop the pasta. Once the pasta is cooked, stir the cooked bacon, cheese, and cilantro into the corn sauce, then stir in the pasta. Serve hot with some extra cilantro and cheese.
I want this as a soup. make it for me.
Uggghhhh. This looks so good, so delicious. Were the veggies and bacon crunchy? I think having some stuff soft and some crunchy would be awesome in this.
ohh this looks so good. agree with kathy that it should be a soup!
This sounds amazing! Love the idea to put a corn spin on tomato sauce!
First thing I thought when looking at the sauce picture was corn chowder with pasta