I'm on the puree train these days! Baby food is on my brain and it coincidentally lead me to one of the most insane pasta recipes I've ever had... Corn Basil Pasta with Mushrooms. Oh my word... it's insane.
I'll make this quick as I know it's a mixed bag. Some of you are VERY interested in the baby food world and I'm working on a comprehensive guide for WGC and it's coming soon. I also know many of you are NOT interested in it so you can totally glaze over that new section of my website when the time comes, or pass it along to whomever in your life would enjoy life altering baby food recipes. But - everyone should be excited because the baby food train brought me to this Corn Basil Pasta with Mushrooms and holy moly it's insane.
If you've been following along on Poppy's eating journey, you know she just tried corn a few weeks ago. She's clearly my child because she loved it. Who doesn't love super sweet summer corn?!? I ended up pureeing a ton of corn for her and freezing it, but ended up having more than I had containers for. So what did I do... I turned it into dinner for Thomas and myself and BAM... new fav pasta recipe was born. Ok - baby food discussion over.
Now let's talk about this Corn Basil Pasta with Mushrooms. If you haven't pureed corn before and used it as a pasta sauce... this is your moment. Melissa Clark first brought this to my attention YEARS ago and it's genius. It's silky and smooth and sweet and flavorful. You might want to make a triple batch of the sauce and then use it on top of chicken / fish / veggies.
Stuck in a dinner rut? Looking for new delicious dinner ideas? Check out my roundup of 50+ easy dinner ideas here.
Corn Basil Pasta with Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 12 ounces pasta (any shorter variety)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ pound wild mushrooms
- 2 ears corn, shucked and kernels removed
- 1 small onion, diced
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- red pepper flakes, lemon juice and basil to garnish
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain once al dente and reserve ¾ cup of the cooking liquid.
- In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoons of the butter and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Once the butter has melted, add mushroom and saute until golden, remove and set aside. Add another 1 tablespoon of butter and remaining oil to the same pan and add the onions. Cook until soft, 6-8 minutes. Add ¼ cup of the reserved pasta cooking liquid and all the corn. Simmer until corn is heated through and almost tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove about ¼ cup of the corn and set aside. Transfer the rest of the corn mixture to a blender, and purée until smooth, adding a little extra of the reserved cooking liquid if needed to get a pourable texture (you're looking for something that's about the same consistency of a marinara sauce)
- Transfer the pureed corn back into the skillet with the reserved whole corn kernels and mushrooms bring to a simmer. Add pasta and a few tablespoons of the reserved pasta cooking water to thin out the sauce as needed and toss to coat. Stir in the Parmesan, lemon juice, basil, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper to taste. Taste and adjust as needed.
This recipe is so good and so easy to make! The perfect weeknight meal!
Does the rest of the butter add at the end?
I made this with spaghetti squash since I had some left and it was so good! A definite keeper recipe!
Wondering if you would suggest straining the pureed corn before adding back for a creamier sauce? When I puree corn for soup I always find the fibers to be a bit much.
Corn Basil Pasta looks absolutely delicious. Can this recipe and any of your other fresh pasta salads be frozen before serving? It would make them so functional….
This looks insanely good! I will be making it soon! What kind of wild mushrooms do you like using in this recipe?
Genuis!!!
Hi Gaby.
I can’t see where to add back in the mushrooms. I’m sure it’s probably at the last stage when you add back the whole corn kernels.
Thanks
correct!