Pancetta and Corn Orecchiette
Mascarpone cheese is always an amazing secret ingredient! Often in the past, while using it with pasta, I will saute some broken up Italian sausage with some type of green veggie, then add the mascarpone to create a creamy, buttery sauce. This time I decided to use pancetta instead of sausage. The salty, crispy pancetta is absolutely fabulous paired with sweet corn. I loved the idea of using orecchiette for this dish because I knew each noodle would scoop up the perfect amount of sauce while also holding a bite of pancetta and corn. All the flavors are married together very nicely in this dish, making it unique and easy for anyone to love!
Ingredients
1 bag frozen corn
1 pound orecchiette
8 ounces mascarpone cheese
Salt
Black pepper
1 cup pancetta (about ¼-½ a pound), diced
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
Fresh Italian parsley, handful, chopped
Grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
Begin to boil a pot of water for the pasta.
In the meantime, heat large pan over medium heat.
Add tablespoon of olive oil and pancetta. Stir occasionally for a couple minutes as pancetta starts to brown, add shallots and garlic. Lower heat to about medium-low.
Once pancetta is about crispy and brown, add corn. Season with salt and pepper. Stir.
Water should be boiling- have pasta cooking. Reserve about ½ cup of the pasta’s starch water before draining.
After corn has been cooking for a few minutes and becomes warm and tender, add mascarpone cheese. Stir as it melts to combine. If pasta is just about done cooking, now is a good time to take some of the pasta water and add to the pan to help melt the mascarpone cheese.
Strain pasta, add pasta to pancetta and corn mixture. Drizzle a little more olive oil over ingredients. Sprinkle fresh, chopped parsley over top.
Toss to combine. Serve immediately, with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
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