Capellini with Fresh Ricotta, Roasted Garlic, Corn and Herbs - Whip It Up week 2

Since I'm on vacation this week I decided to be a little adventurous and attempt something from Bon Appétit.I flipped through my June and July issues and came upon one I had marked. After a trip to the specialty cheese store and the farm stand, I was ready to go.

Capellini with Fresh Ricotta, Roasted Garlic, Corn, and Herbs
Bon Appétit, June 2008

1 large head of garlic with the top 1/2 inch cut off
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 ears of fresh corn (still in husks!)
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (approximately 3 lemon's worth)
4 teaspoons grated lemon peel
8 ounces capellini
2 cups of loosely packed mixed greens
2 cups of torn radicchio leaves
1 cup of fresh ricotta (7 - 8 ounces)
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese plus shaved Parmesan for garnish
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup thinly sliced basil leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. You're going to roast the garlic by drizzling with olive oil and wrapping in foil and then baking for about forty minutes (Pioneer Woman has a nice tutorial on this). Put the ears of corn, still in their husks, onto a baking sheet and bake until tender, about 25 minutes. Once they're based, allow the garlic and the corn to cool a bit so you can handle them.

Set a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta.

Take the garlic out of its foil packet and squeeze the ooey garlic out of its skin into a bowl. Add the lemon juice, lemon rind, and two tablespoons of olive oil to the garlic, mash the garlic up with a fork and whisk it all together.

Shuck the corn and then cut the kernals off the cob. (Cover everything in a 10 foot vicinity with plastic because those damn kernals will fly.) Add the corn to the lemon and garlic mixture. Set it aside.

When the water is briskly boiling, add two or three generous pinches of salt (not before it boils because you don't want it to pit the bottom of your pot) and throw in your pasta. The recipe calls for capellini, I used spaghetti. Once it's al dente, drain it and rinse with cold water (this is not a step you'd do if you were serving it with a red sauce because the starch that the cold water rinses off helps the sauce to stick. In this case the ricotta cheese does that well!). Put the pasta into a medium sized bowl. The recipe then calls for you to toss with one tablespoon of olive oil - I omitted this. Then take your kitchen shears and cut the pasta noodles several times.

Add in your greens, herbs, cheeses, and corn mixture. Toss everything to coat. Season with salt and pepper, add some shaved Parmesan to the top and serve.

So, onto the questions:

Was the recipe easy to follow?

Yes. It was easy, but the prep work was long and annoying.

Did it taste good?

Yes!

Will you make this again?

Um. Maybe? If I had to? The truth is that it's not complicated, but it's a lot of prep work for a fairly simple dish. Also, I don't typically have herbs on hand, nor do I have radicchio. The dish used all of the chives and parsley I bought and I have a tiny bit of basil and dill left. I substituted high end regular ricotta because I didn't feel like spending nine bucks on the fresh stuff. It was an expensive little dish that just required too much work to make it into my repertoire. If I were to do it again, I would certainly use fresh frozen corn, because I would NOT do that part again.

I used the dish as a side to my salmon for the evening. I'll make the salmon again. That part is simple: take a fresh salmon fillet slather with mayo, plain yogurt or sour cream (I used reduced fat mayo), toss some fresh herbs (I used dill) and lemon slices on top, wrap in parchment and bake at 300 degrees for 25 minutes.

That's not bad all all.

Comments

[RA]

Okay, even the name of this recipe would have intimidated me. And it was a side? Impressive!

[Kim]

It looked like you got a workout from a recipe! I'm glad it tasted good to you, because that would have been a disappointment after all that work.

[Laurel]

This dish sounds like it was quite the adventure to make! Oh well, it's good to try a complicted recipe once in a while, right?

[Vanessa]

This looks fabulous! I am definitely making this, maybe even tonight. I love salmon and am always looking for new ways to prepare it, thanks for the recipe.

[slynnro]

Please come to my house and make this now.

[Colleen - Mommy Always Wins]

MMMMMMM....gaaarrrlliiiicccc....

To much prep for me, though. Got a # for a restaurant that delivers this? ;o)