This pasta rules. It feels like a cross between yellow curry, carbonara, and elotes and the whole thing comes together in about 30 minutes, boiling water included.
Recipe
1/2 cup coconut milk
4 ears of corn, shucked
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp fish sauce
juice of 1/2 lemon
4 slices bacon, chopped
1 medium shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced finely or pasted with a garlic press
8 small roma tomatoes, diced.
5 mint leaves
1 oz crumbled feta cheese
10 oz dried pasta, or 16 oz fresh pasta
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
Place a large skillet over medium heat. Chop bacon, add to pan, and cook until browned and crisp, about 8 minutes. Reserve bacon but leave fat in pan.
Meanwhile, prep the sauce. Stand the corn upright in a wide skillet or on a large platter and trim the kernels off with a chef's knife. Holding it upright allows you to make a few long cuts down the side and the large dish will catch any errant flying kernels.
Add trimmed corn, along with the coconut milk, kosher salt, fish sauce, and lemon juice, to the jar of a high powered blender. If you don't have a high powered blender, you may want to pass the sauce through a fine mesh strainer or a chinois after blending to remove the stubborn hulls.
Blend on high for 1-2 minutes, until the kernels have broken down and the mixture is smooth.
When the bacon is done, add minced shallot to bacon pan and cook for about 5 minutes, until browned.
When water is boiling, add pasta and cook until a minute before al dente according to the package.
Once the shallots are browned, add garlic to the pan and cook for a minute more.
Strain sauce, if necessary, and add to pan. Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly reduced.
Add pasta and fresh tomatoes. Toss to coat. Cook for another minute more until everything looks glossy and the sauce coats the pasta.
Serve, garnishing with reserved bacon, chiffonaded mint, and crumbled goat cheese.
Notes and substitutions:
There are essentially three parallel tracks here, each of which have plenty of downtime: boiling the pasta, blending the sauce, and frying the bacon and shallots. I like to set water on to boil, chop bacon and get it frying, then prep the sauce while that's all happening. Once the bacon is done, the water should be boiling, and I'll start the pasta when I drop the shallots, then let the sauce start reducing when the shallots are done. Well executed, it's all fairly harmonious, with very little true downtime. The whole dish comes together in about half an hour.
If you don't have shallots, red onion or yellow onion would work just fine. Pancetta or guanciale would work instead of bacon, and in a pinch frozen corn would work instead of fresh. I'd sub 2-3 cups of frozen corn for the 4 ears of fresh corn. The fish sauce is pretty clutch here, but you could also use a teaspoon of anchovy paste and a dash of salt, or use soy sauce instead and omit the bacon and feta for a vegan version. Any salty cheese will work here--parmesan, queso fresco, or cotija would all work just as well as feta.
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