Pasta with Corn and Bacon – and an Olive Oil Giveaway!
July 6, 2011 • Pasta & Pizza
It’s hot as heck here in Colorado, but fortunately the evenings in the shade are still pleasant and perfect for a simple dinner outside. If you’ve read this blog for any time at all, you might recall that tossing together ingredients to make a pasta dish was what broke my dependence on recipes for cooking. I had leftover cooked corn in the refrigerator and basil in my garden and those are two flavors that go amazingly well together. I had bacon that I could easily cook in one batch in the oven and my husband loves pasta dishes. Seems like a natural doesn’t it?
Start by cutting the kernels off the cob from your cooked corn. Truth be told, you don’t even need to cook the corn if you don’t want to as summer fresh corn is delicious raw and the heat of the pasta would warm it up anyway.
Thinly slice (chiffonade) some basil and throw that in with the corn.
Dice up some cooked bacon – I like it extra crispy, almost burned, so that most of the fat is rendered off.
Toss everything together with the cooked pasta and some of the pasta cooking water, then season with salt and pepper.
Finally, pour (not sprinkle) on some high quality extra virgin olive oil. Don’t have any of that on hand? Well then today is your lucky day! The fine folks at Gourmet Cooking & Living, sponsors of this blog (although I’ve purchased olive oil from them for years through their fabulous Olive Oil of the Month Club), will kindly ship a bottle of this month’s selection, the Trampetti Extra Virgin Olive Oil from the Umbria region of Italy to one lucky winner. Just comment below on your favorite summer pasta dish and you’ll be entered to win. The winner will be selected randomly on Friday, so don’t delay!
Personally, once I’ve tossed the pasta dish with olive oil and served it up, I add more on my own plate. This oil has a range of scents – fresh cut grass, herbs, artichokes – and a nice fresh taste. Delicious!
Simple dishes like this pasta one are perfect for summer – they don’t need to be eaten piping hot and are just as good at room temperature. Pick your favorite wine and pull up a chair outside – it won’t be summer for long!
- 8 ounces short pasta, cooked and drained, reserve ½ cup cooking water
- 3 ears corn, kernels cut off
- 8 slices bacon, cooked crispy, drained, and chopped
- ½ cup minced fresh basil
- salt and pepper, to taste
- extra virgin olive oil, to taste
- Combine pasta, cooking water, corn, bacon and basil and toss together. Season with salt and pepper and add olive oil to taste.
Comments
7 Comments • Comments Feed
Peter says:
My fav pasta for the summer is just hand smushed cherry tomatoes, into which I mix some black olives, garlic and red wine vinegar. Basil and marjoram leaves, and olive oil.
A little salt, a little pepper – let it sit for a bit, and serve over really good home-made linguini.
Delicious
July 6, 2011 at 6:15 am
Dinah says:
Gosh it looks so refreshing and yummy. Thanks for sharing and great idea!.
July 6, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Joan Nova says:
I’ve never used corn with pasta but paired with bacon and a good quality olive oil, it makes a lot of sense. Great dish.
July 6, 2011 at 4:07 pm
Joey says:
My favorite is a BLT pasta salad!
July 6, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Richard says:
I don’t have a favorite summer pasta dish. This recipe may become my favortite.
July 6, 2011 at 5:01 pm
Jen says:
Ooh, this dish looks amazing! But my pasta downfall is tortellini…preferably filled with cheese and covered with some type of cream sauce. Delicious!
July 7, 2011 at 9:02 pm
Cheryl W. says:
No doubt about it Pappardelle with Tomatoes, Arugula and Parmesan salad is my ultimate favorite summer pasta salad. It is lightly dressed with a lemon/olive oil vinaigrette.
July 7, 2011 at 11:54 pm