shrimp sausage pasta

Back in early June, I told you how I was going to join a CSA.  Well, I did, and I was able to pick up a box of fresh Crooked Sky Farm produce every Thursday morning for the past eight weeks. What fun it was to be surprised by the bounty I received.

For the last four weeks of the eight, there was fresh corn. Corn is one vegetable we never get tired of. This is one of the many “easy-breezy” dishes I created to use up all that corn. Of course, many a night, it was plain old corn on the cob, always a wonderful summer-time treat!

Sweet Corn and Shrimp Pasta

1/4 pound Italian sausage
5 strips bacon, chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
Kernels from 2 – 3 ears of corn
1/2 cup chicken broth or water
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound rotini or fusilli pasta, cooked and drained, with 1/4 cup of the starchy cooking water set aside
Freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

Heat a large skillet oven over medium-high heat. Add sausage and bacon, cook and stir until some of the fat starts to render out. Add onion and garlic and cook until the onions are soft and translucent the bacon is crisp and the sausage browns.

Turn off the heat and tilt the pan to one side, allowing the fat to puddle, drain off or blot out most of the fat with paper towels.

Turn the heat to medium-high, and add the corn kernels and the broth.

Bring to a boil and stir in the shrimp and tomatoes and cook, turning over shrimp, until the shrimp are pink all over. Season with red pepper flakes and salt and pepper.

Toss with the hot pasta and the reserved 1/4 cup of pasta water. Serve with a generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4