I was on my way home from work recently and was struggling a bit to figure out what to make for dinner. I stopped at the grocery store, and saw that they had some local corn and tomatoes on sale, and I figured that I would base my meal on that. There was a deal on mint, so I picked up some mint as well, along with hot sausage. These became the basis of a pasta dish that is so delicious, I have had to judiciously ration it for several meals, as I would otherwise consume it all in one sitting. It’s the perfect dish for the season—when the last of the corn and tomatoes are still available—and the mint is a nice bright counterpoint to the richness of the sausage.
Tomato, Corn, and Sausage Cavatelli with Mint
3-4 servings
2 large tomatoes
2 ears sweet corn
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 bunch mint
3 links hot sausage
8 oz cavatelli pasta
Roughly chop tomatoes. Shuck corn and cut kernels from the cobs. Smash garlic cloves. Pick good handful of mint leaves, rinse and chiffonade. Take sausage out of casings.
Put a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a large saute pan. Warm over medium heat. Place sausage meat in pan and brown the meat, breaking it up into little pieces. Remove meat from pan with slotted spoon.
Put another tablespoon of olive oil in the pan, add smashed garlic and cook for about a minute, until fragrant. Add tomatoes and corn to the pan and cook for several minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan with a spatula to incorporate the fond from the sausage. After corn and tomatoes are warmed through, add sausage meat back to the pan. Remove from heat.
Boil well-salted water in a large pot. Add cavatelli and cook per instructions on the package, about 10 minutes to al dente. Reserve a mug of pasta water, then drain pasta.
Return saute pan to heat, medium-low. Add the pasta and pasta water to the saute pan, and stir all ingredients well. Add mint to pan and stir again. Serve in bowls, topping with grated parmesan or grana padano if you wish.