I love sweetcorn! Theyre so versatile. I love to eat them chargrilled, toasted in a salad raw with a pokey dressing, in a warming corn chowder soup & so much more. Here Im making a strong case of using them in a creamy pasta sauce with this recipe. This sauce is so indulgent and ever so slightly sweet, paired with the mushrooms and hazelnuts, it’s a wonderful autumnal plate of food.
Ingredients:
One Corn On the Cob
1/2 cup of Soaked Cashews (add to boiling and leave to soak for at least 30 mins)
300g Of Linguine
One Medium Sized Brown Onion Diced
Two Cloves Of Garlic
Two Tablespoons Of White Miso
Two Tablespoons Of Apple Cider Vinegar
One Tablespoon Of Nutritional Yeast
One teaspoon Of Smoked Paprika
20g Toasted Hazelnuts roughly chopped
Mushrooms:
300g of Mushrooms of Your Choice - cut in halves
Three Tablespoons Of Olive Oil
Two Tablespoons Of Balsamic Vinegar
One Tablespoon of Your Favourite Wet Jerk Seasoning/Marinade
Begin but soaking your cashews with boiling water, putting it aside for 30mins whilst you prep the rest of the dish. The preheat your oven to gas mark 6. In a small bowl, add all of your ingredients for the mushroom marinade, then put aside. Chop your mushrooms in halves and the place in the bowl with the marinade and toss. Spread across a baking trying making sure that the mushrooms aren’t piled on top of each other, place in the oven to bake,setting your timer for 25mins.
Now for the sauce. Using a sharp knife cut off all the corn kernels, and set aside. Place a dry non stick frying pan, and bring to a medium. When hot add the sweetcorn, tosssing with a spatula every now and then until the corn is lovely and charred. Bring the pan back down to a low heat and add a tablespoon of vegan butter or oil of choice, take your diced onions and add to the pan with a pinch of salt. Cook for about 8-10 minutes till the onions are lovely and soft, adding a splash of water to get the charred corn flavour off the bottom of the pan. Now add fresh thyme, paprika and garlic and cook for another minute till fragrant.
Bring a a pan of water to bowl and add your pasta cooking to it’s instructions. As the Pasta cooks, you can finish the sauce. Add the onions, corn, cashews with 1/3cup of the soaking water, miso, vinegar, nutritional yeast, and a generous pinch of sea salt toahigb speed blender. Blend till completely smooth for 2 minutes. It should be a silk, thick creamy consistency. This part is the most important, taste here and adjust to taste, add a bit more salt/pepper/vinegar if needed.
Now as as the pasta is finished cooking, drain and reserve a little of the water if needed. Use the same frying pan and gently put to heat again with a tablespoon of vegan butter and add your drained pasta, then the sauce. Toss the pasta with the sauce adding a touch of the pasta liquid if it’s two thick.
Take the mushrooms out of the oven and get ready to plate up! Swirl on the pasta in plates adding the mushrooms on top with a few roasted hazelnuts for crunch and extra flavour.