Mexican Street Corn Pasta

By trf0ster

Ingredients

• For the Dressing:
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• juice and zest of one lime
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce I used chipotle tabasco
• salt and pepper to taste
• For the Pasta Salad:
• 8 oz. farfalle pasta
• 4 thick-cut slices of bacon
• 4 cups corn frozen and thawed, fresh removed from cob, or canned and drained
• 1 jalapeño pepper seeded and diced finely
• 4 green onions green parts only, thinly sliced
• 4 oz. crumbled queso fresco or cotija cheese, plus more for garnish
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro plus more for garnish

Details

Adapted from bowlofdelicious.com

Preparation

Step 1

Mix all ingredients for dressing in a large bowl. Set aside.
Cook pasta according to directions in salted water. Drain and rinse with cold water until completely cool. Shake off as much excess water as possible.
Meanwhile, cook bacon in a heavy skillet until crispy. Remove to a paper towel lined plate and allow to cool. Crumble when cool. Drain all but one tablespoon of bacon grease from the skillet (enough to coat the bottom).
Heat the skillet with the remaining bacon grease and add the corn kernels. Cook over medium-high heat until starting to brown- don't stir too often. You should get nice dark color on some pieces.
Add the cooked and cooled pasta, crumbled bacon, corn, jalapeño pepper, green onions, queso fresco, and cilantro to the large bowl with the dressing. Stir to combine.
Serve garnished with extra cheese, cilantro, and a little bit more chili powder, if desired.

This recipe is adapted from Chelsea's Messy Apron (Thanks, Chelsea!).
You can make this up to two days in advance and refrigerate until you are ready to serve. Serve cold straight out of the fridge.
As an alternative to sautéing the corn in the bacon fat, you can grill corn on the cob, which is more traditional. This is great if you're already firing up the grill for other things! Just remove the kernels from the cobs after grilling (about 5 of them) and add to the pasta salad as instructed.
The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.