Mushroom Corn Pasta

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Corn and mushrooms pair so well together. I love the earthy mellow flavor of mushrooms with crisp and buttery corn. By adding pasta, I turn what could be a vegetable side dish into a full-fledged main course.

You can make it in less than 30 minutes. Pasta, mushrooms and corn all cook quickly on the stove. This recipe involves very simple prep and limited cook time. Also, during corn season, like to switch things up from my usual cherry tomato pasta and put the focus on other veggies.

This recipe is lighter than other corn pastas, which often involve a creamy sauce. Here I stick with olive oil, skip butter, and add some of the pasta cooking water in the skillet towards the end of cooking to bring everything together.

The Ingredients

This is what you need:

• Pasta: Penne is my go-to shape for this recipe. Other short pastas like orecchiette and fusilli will also work. You can use gluten-free varieties.
• Mushrooms: Sometimes called baby bellas, cremini mushrooms are slightly more mature white mushrooms and have more flavor than button mushrooms. You can buy them whole or sliced.
• Corn: I use a sharp chef’s knife to slice the kernels off 2 cobs, which is about 2 cups. You can use canned or frozen corn, just thaw it. Since frozen has more water content, the texture won’t be as crisp as fresh or canned corn. Also, you may not need as much pasta cooking water to simmer in the skillet. (I also make this pasta with sweet corn pesto.)
• Scallions act like a cross between green onions and herbs.
• Garlic is very important to give a base flavor to this dish. Lately, I’ve been mincing it using my microplane, so it’s a paste.
• Parmesan: You can substitute with grated pecorino or a combination of both. To make this recipe vegan, use nutritional yeast.
• Parsley: With any pasta, it’s always a good to add chopped herbs to layer in more fresh flavor. If you have fresh basil or chives, they would also be good.
• Olive oil, kosher salt & black pepper: These pantry ingredients are for sauteing and seasoning the mushroom and corn.

How To Make Mushroom Corn Pasta

1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water 1 minute less than al dente according to package directions. Save a half cup of the cooking water. Drain the pasta in a colander.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

3. Sauté the mushrooms and corn until the mushrooms are browned and caramelized, and the corn is bright yellow, about 5 minutes.

4. Stir in the white scallions, garlic, salt and pepper. Give them about 30 seconds to become fragrant.

5. Fold in the pasta and pour in the reserved pasta water. Let it bubble and evaporate and coat the penne.

6. Stir in the scallion greens, Parmesan and parsley. Season with more salt and pepper as desired.