Recipe: Corn Meal Pasta and Zesty Taco Pasta Sauce

Last weekend, we built a new counter in the kitchen.  (We're going to tile over the dreaded orange soon, and cover the new counters with the same tile..)

The orange will be gone oh so soon!

As a result, I have more storage.  It's lovely.  My sweet Atlas pasta maker has it's own spot!

Storage!  Hooray!

The Boy saw the pasta maker today and announced that we had to make pasta for dinner.  Who am I to argue?  He loves to help making pasta.  Both kiddos do.

In preparation for Cinco de Mayo, how about Mexican inspired pasta?

It was fantastic.  The corn meal dough was a bit tricky to get through the first roll, but once that was done, it was more forgiving, and actually much less apt to stick together once the noodles were cut.

Akin to my black bean pasta, I made a Mexican inspired sauce - I'll call it Zesty Taco Pasta Sauce.  That works.  I'll give you both recipes.

Corn Meal Pasta

1/2 c canned corn, drained
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vegetable oil, corn oil, or olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 c yellow cornmeal
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c flax seed meal

Heading into the food processor

All pureed

Place corn, eggs, oil, and salt in a food processor.  Cover and process until smooth.

To the food processor, add flours and corn meal.  Process for about 10 seconds or until the dough leaves the side of the bowl and can be pressed together with your fingers.  If it's too sticky, add more flour; if it's too dry, add a little water.

Remove the dough from the food processor and press into a ball.  Wrap with saran wrap and let rest for about 10 minutes.

Take about 1/4 of the dough and press into a small disk, as thin as you can press it with your hands.  Roll through a pasta machine on the thickest setting.  If pieces break off, don't worry about it.  Simply press the pieces together with your hands into a sheet and roll through the pasta machine on the thickest setting again.

Pieced back together after the first thickness.

Arm's length of thin pasta sheet

Roll thought on thinner and thinner settings, until you get a sheet of pasta as thin as possible without breaking.  (I can get to 6 on my Atlas machine)

Cut into desired shapes (I made linguine) and allow to dry for several minutes.

Boil a large pot of salted water.  Cook pasta for about 4 minutes, or until it floats and tastes "cooked."  Drain and serve with desired sauce.

Zesty Taco Pasta Sauce

2 c jarred pasta sauce (I used meat flavored)
1 c canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1 c canned corn, drained
1 small can diced green chilis
1/2 c prepared salsa
1 Tbsp taco seasoning, or more, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan.  Heat together for about five minutes and serve with pasta - preferably black bean or corn meal noodles.