Summer is almost coming to an end and I have one last recipe to share before we move into fall. Most of the summer produce in Northern CA lasts until end of October! But some produce like sweet corn, apricots and squash have a short lived summer. Sweet corn is still present in the markets and I had to get me some beautiful corn to use in my cooking. They had nardello peppers which are sweet Italian peppers, red in color and long shaped and so delicious! I got quite a bit and I think I am going to pickle the remaining peppers to use later in the year with sandwiches or pasta perhaps to give it some color!
One of my absolute favorite restaurants in San Francisco is Flour and Water. They make fresh pasta in house, all possible shapes and sizes, and all just so beautifully presented! The food there is phenomenal, so are their drinks and desserts! I would go there quite often if I lived in the city! It is a trek from where I live currently but so worth it. We even took my father in law there and he is not really a fan of pasta but he loved this place and wants to go there again! The reservation needs to be made more than a month in advance so make sure that you make it advance if you want to visit this restaurant and enjoy the pastastic experience ! 🙂
I got inspiration for this pasta dish from this restaurant. I went here this year for my birthday in May, and as usual it was a fantastic meal! Using the in season produce, I used summer corn, cherry tomatoes and nardello peppers in this dish, along with some fresh basil leaves and chives from the market. I got a huge bunch of chives for $1! They were so beautiful. Chives add a mild onion flavor. The filling is made with sweet corn, sun dried tomatoes, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese and crème fraiche to make it creamy, along with fresh herbs like basil and chives. The filling was quite delicious, and it would be great on some toast, and heirloom tomatoes too!
I love the tortellini shape so that is what I made! I gave my kids a small piece of dough and they rolled out their own dough and made tiny raviolis! They were so cute 🙂 It is always fun to get kids involved in the kitchen with you, so that they can experience the joys and learn many things like focus, learning a new skill and enjoy the art of cooking! They actually boiled their own pasta, and took it for lunch the next day!
Anyways, the sauce is a corn cream sauce, very flavorful and a garnish of buttered corn, nardello peppers and cherry tomatoes. I loved this dish and so did my family, and I would definitely make it again! I hope you get a chance to try this recipe! If you do, before the summer ends, please do not forget to tag #thejamlab on Instagram and/or leave a comment on Instagram/blog post.
Enjoy the last few days of summer people! Fall has its own beauty and cannot wait to dive into fall produce, and cooking/baking!
Much Love!
XO
Amisha
Ingredients
- Pasta:
- (adapted from the book Mastering Pasta by Marc Vetri)
- 2 cups “00” flour 0 available on Amazon.com (used for Pizza dough as well)
- 6 egg yolks
- 1 whole egg
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp water
- Pasta filling:
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup finely chopped red onions
- Corn kernels from 1 ear
- ½ cup ricotta cheese
- 1/3 cup crème fraiche
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp finely chopped chives
- 1 tbsp finely chopped basil
- 2 tbsp sundried tomatoes
- Corn Crema:
- ¾ of the Corn kernels from 1 ear(keep ¼ remaining for the garnish)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup finely chopped red onions
- ¾ cup water
- 3-4 basil leaves
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Garnish:
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¼ of the corn kernels remaining from the 1 ear
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes cut into half
- 2 nardello peppers thinly sliced
- Salt to taste
- Basil leaves
- Finely chopped chive
- 2 cups semolina
- Jelly roll pan
Instructions
- Pasta Dough:
- On a large wooden board or clean kitchen surface, add in all the dry ingredients like flour and salt and make a well in the center. Add in all the wet ingredients and whisk with a fork. Now slowly start incorporating the flour with a fork little bit at a time into the well and mix. Once all the flour is in the well, use your hands to incorporate all the flour together and keep mixing with your hands until it all comes together. If the mixture is dry, add a tbsp. of water at a time and mix again until the dough comes together. Keep kneading with the palm of your hands until the dough is soft and pliable. Now let it rest for 30 minutes atleast, covered with a plastic wrap or a kitchen towel.
- Pasta Filling:
- In a small saucepan on medium heat, add in the butter and olive oil and add in the red onion and the corn and saute for about 5 minutes until soft. Let it cool completely.
- In a food processor, add all the remaining ingredients and the cooled corn and process until it’s a puree. Do not over puree it. It needs to be slightly coarse for texture. Put it into a 12 inch piping bag with a tiny hole cut at the bottom and keep it aside in the fridge till ready to use.
- To make the tortellini:
- Cut the resting pasta dough into quarters. Keep the other 3 quarters covered until ready to use, using a kitchen towel. Now roll out the dough into a ball. Using a rolling pin, flatten it out into a 5x7 rectangle. Now using a pasta machine at the lowest setting 1, pass the rectangular dough through, to flatten out. Repeat this step. Now switch the setting to setting 3, and repeat the step again twice to elongate and flatten out the dough. Now switch the setting to 5 and repeat the step again twice to stretch out the dough again into thin sheets. Repeat the step again, twice on setting 7 to stretch out the dough into thin sheets as possible. Your pasta sheet is ready.
- Lay it flat on the wooden cutting board. Measure and cut out even sized 3 inch squares. Drop about a half teaspoonful of the filling in the center of each pasta filling. Keep a bowl of water near you. Dip a finger and rub against the border to seal the pasta. Now get the two opposite corners together and gently press on the edges to seal to form a triangle. Using your pinky finger, push the filling slightly up, wrap each end around your pinky and press lightly to seal. Set a jelly roll pan near you, with semolina spread on it. Lay each tortellini on the semolina so that it does not stick together. Repeat with all the tortellinis.
- Corn Crema:
- In a small saucepan on medium heat, add in the olive oil and add in the red onion and the corn and saute for about 5 minutes until soft. Now add in the water and let it boil for about 5 minutes. Puree the entire mixture in a high speed blender with basil leaves, heavy cream, salt and pepper. Strain it through a medium sieve to make the puree smooth. Put it back in the saucepan and boil for another 5 minutes, until slightly thick. Set it aside.
- Garnish:
- In a small saucepan on medium heat, add in the butter and corn and saute for 2 minutes. Now add in the cherry tomatoes and nardello peppers, along with a sprinkle of salt and saute for 2 minutes. Switch off the stove. Set it aside.
- Boil the pasta and assembly:
- In a large pot of water(3/4th way up), add in enough salt to make it salty like the ocean. Let the water come to a boil. Now add in the pasta and boil for about 4 minutes until al denta, soft to the bite. Keep 4-6 pasta bowls ready.
- Now add about 12-15 tortellinis per plate. Spoon over the corn crema, over the pasta. Distribute the corn, tomato, nardello pepper mixture over the pasta. Garnish with basil leaves and finely chopped chives!
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