CREAMY CORN PASTA

It’s corn season, and we’re making the most of it by adding corn to just about everything: salads, soups and, in this case, a creamy sauce made with cashew butter. The inspiration for this sauce comes simply from corn on the cob with butter and salt. We wanted to recreate those same flavours in a pasta dish, and we’re really happy with how it turned out. The cashew butter creates a beautifully creamy texture, while the corn cooking water helps loosen the sauce while enhancing the corn flavour. We also add cold butter directly to the blender to recreate that simple buttery corn flavour that inspired the recipe in the first place. The turmeric is optional — it’s mostly there to give the sauce its beautiful yellow colour. 

Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS

• 2 ears of corn
• 2 shallots
• A drizzle of olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp turmeric (optional, for colour)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ cup cold salted butter
• ¼ cup Cashew Butter Sea Salt
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 cups corn cooking water
• 500 g short pasta (we used radiatori)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the corn for 10 minutes. Reserve the cooking water, as you’ll use it to make the sauce. Remove the corn with tongs and run it under cold water to cool.
2. Once the corn is cool enough to handle, use a knife to cut the kernels off the cobs.
3. Thinly slice the shallots. No need to dice them, since they’ll be blended into the sauce later.
4. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots, corn kernels, salt and turmeric. Season generously with black pepper and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat.
5. Transfer the corn mixture to a blender. Add the salted butter, Cashew Butter Sea Salt, lemon juice and 2 cups of the corn cooking water. Blend until smooth and creamy. You should have about 4 cups of sauce.
6. In a separate pot of well-salted boiling water, cook the pasta, removing it 3 minutes before the al dente cooking time indicated on the package. It will finish cooking directly in the sauce.
7. Transfer the pasta to the skillet used to cook the corn. Add some of the sauce and cook over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually add more sauce until you reach your desired consistency. The cashew butter will cause the sauce to thicken fairly quickly, and the pasta will continue to absorb it as it cooks. Start with a little less sauce, toss well to coat the pasta, then add more as needed.
8. Divide the pasta among bowls and top with freshly ground black pepper and, if desired, freshly grated Parmesan (not pictured).

NOTE
This recipe makes about 4 cups of sauce, and you don’t need to use it all at once. If you’re planning to save some of the pasta for the next day, set aside a little sauce separately. The pasta will continue to absorb the sauce as it cools, so you can add some of the reserved sauce when reheating to bring back its creamy texture.