Fresh Corn and Tomato Pasta

It’s August and the once candy-like strawberries are now in decline, as are my beloved cherries. What’ll be next?! Peaches? Corn? Tomatoes?! Y’all, my produce FOMO is comin’ in hot!

So when I see produce at the farmers market in its peak, I buy as much as I can carry.

At last week’s market there was a HUGE table of beautiful, fresh, locally grown corn. As I walked away enamored with my 15 ear-purchase, I envisioned fresh creamy polenta, skillet cornbread, and THIS corn and tomato pasta.

What I love most about this pasta is that the corn is the star of the show, but the supporting actors (tomato, garlic, butter) bring it to life. The sweetness of the corn is balanced by the acidity of the tomatoes, which is tempered by the butter, which is elevated by the garlic. AND it’s a 7-ingredient pasta need I say more?

When we can, we try to eat seasonally and support local businesses. We’re not perfect, but we do the best we can. This pasta is a delicious excuse for you to try too! So head on over to your local farmers market and grab these summer beauties while they last!

The Recipe

Serves 4 ravenous to 6 light appetites

This recipe was adapted from Food52; ingredients and instructions were altered.

Ingredients

2-3 pints of small tomatoes (🔥Pint-Sized)

⅓ cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling on tomatoes

10 cloves of garlic, skins on (🔥Team Edward)

3-4 ears of fresh corn

4 tablespoons of butter (or sub with olive oil if vegan!)

Salt

1 pound of pasta (🔥Shapes and Sizes)

Freshly grated parmesan for serving (optional)

Finishing salt for serving (optional) (🔥Crunch Master)

Instructions

Slow-roast tomatoes:

1. Preheat the oven to 250°F and line a rimmed baking tray with parchment paper or foil. Cut all of the tomatoes in half, then lay them cut-side up on the tray. Drizzle with olive oil and a generous sprinkle of salt. Bake for 2 hours, then remove from the oven to cool.

Slow-fry garlic:

1. While the tomatoes are roasting, pierce each garlic clove several times with the tip of a knife (🎩Ka-Boom). In a small saucepan combine the olive oil and garlic cloves; if the cloves are exposed, add more oil to cover them (🎩Oil Spill). Set the saucepan over medium heat and once you hear sizzling, immediately turn the heat down to low. Cook the garlic over low for 15-20 minutes, or until each clove is soft in the center when pierced with a knife. Remove from the heat.

Remove corn kernels:

1. Also while the tomatoes are roasting, get out a medium bowl and a large cutting board. Carefully cut the corn kernels off of the cobs and put them into the bowl. Then scrape the cut cobs with the back of a knife to get all the tiny corn bits as well. Reserve the bare cobs for the pasta water.

Assemble the pasta:

1. Carefully remove the garlic cloves from their skins (beware of squirting oil!), then return them to the oil and mash with the back of a spoon.

2. Prepare a pot of water to cook the pasta, then add the bare corn cobs (🎩Gettin’ Corny). Once the water is boiling, allow the cobs to boil for at least 5 additional minutes before discarding; then proceed with cooking the pasta as usual until al dente. Reserve 1 ½ cups of the cooking water before you strain the pasta. Leave the pasta in the strainer and proceed to the next step.

3. In the same pot you cooked the pasta, melt the butter, then add the garlic mixture and corn (🎩Creamy Corn). Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the kernels are warm but still fresh and crunchy, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, ¾ of the cooked pasta, and ½ a cup of the pasta water, then cook for another 3-5 minutes. Take a moment to assess the pasta-to-stuff ratio; add more pasta, or add pasta water to loosen the sauce, if needed.

4. Serve as-is or shower generously with freshly grated parmesan.

Enjoy!

Hot Tips 🔥

• PINT-SIZED — This recipe works best with smaller tomatoes, like grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, tiny heirloom tomatoes, etc. You can use bigger varietals but the cooking time will be much longer and they may not be as sweet.

• TEAM EDWARD — Increase or decrease the number of garlic cloves to your liking. Keep in mind that the cloves will be cooked which eliminates all the acidic bite in raw garlic.

• SHAPES AND SIZES — I recommend using pasta shapes that can catch the kernels: rigatoni, orecchiette, medium shells penne, or even rotini. Thin long pastas are ok but you’ll have a harder time getting all that corn in each bite!

• CRUNCH MASTER — Finishing salts are thin and flaky, providing minimal saltiness with a lot of crunchy texture. My favorites are Maldon and Jacobsen flake salts.

Tricks 🎩

• KA-BOOM — Failure to puncture enough holes will result in garlic exploding out of the hot oil. Be sure to pierce each clove at least 3-4 times and on different sides of the clove.

• OIL SPILL — In order to properly cook the garlic, they need to be mostly submerged in oil. If your pot is too large, rather than adding additional oil, tilt the pot to collect the garlic and oil in one area.

• GETIN’ CORNY — While completely optional, boiling the cobs infuses the water with extra corn flavor that gets absorbed into the noodles.

• CREAMY CORN — There’s no liquid in this dish aside from the butter and oil, so it’s a rather “dry” pasta, much like a pesto pasta is “dry”. If you want a thicker saucier consistency, you may blend up to ½ of the corn with ⅓-½ cup of pasta water until smooth, then return to the pot.