CSA Recipe Idea: Pasta with Fresh Corn and Basil

Every week when I go pick up our family share from the Local Harvest CSA,
I feel like a kid on Christmas morning.

Here is a snap of one recent week's haul:




Last week we were thrilled to pick up eight tiny ears of sweet corn.

Being from New Jersey, I am a giant corn snob, but even I have to admit that rarely have I had such good corn. Each tiny kernel was bursting with sweetness and all eight ears were gone in a New Jersey minute.

Which is kind of like a New York minute, only with bigger hair and a worse accent.

The next night I went over to Dimond Hill and bought 14 ears. Which was insane. We only had 4 people at the dinner table that night, and even the pigs here could not finish that much corn.

Which wound up being the perfect base for a quick and simple pasta dinner:




Ricotta is my new favorite binder for pasta dishes. It is rich, relatively low fat and really blends everything together.

Sauce that is done and waiting for the pasta to finish? My idea of summer cooking perfection.

Pasta with Fresh Corn and Basil

To serve 6-8

Ingredients:

1 pound short whole wheat pasta

3 tablespoons butter (or olive oil if you insist)
1 bunch of green onions, rinsed and roughly chopped
6 ears left over corn on the cob. Remove the kernels by standing each ear on it's stem end and gently running a sharp knife down the sides. The kernels should slide off in big slabs. Be sure not to so deep that you remove any of the cob with the kernels.

1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
handful fresh basil, minced

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. You can use olive oil here, but the butter really compliments the flavor of the corn, and corn season is so short, live a little people and add the demon butter!

Add the onions and saute for two minutes just to soften the onions, but not brown them. Add the corn and continue to saute just to get the chill off the corn. Add the salt and the pepper, turn off the heat and set aside.

When the pasta is done, scoop out about a half cup of the pasta water and set aside. Drain the pasta and place in a large shallow bowl. Add the ricotta and toss to combine. Add a splash of the reserved pasta water and toss again.

Top with the sauteed corn and onion mixture and toss again. Add another splash of the cooking water if the mixture is too thick for your liking. Garnish with the minced basil and serve.