Photo @madeleine diaries
Last week, maybe as a way of making our upcoming California trip feel closer while I remained trapped in New York City’s sticky heat, I made the tagliatelle with cherry tomatoes and corn that has become a family favorite since we tried a (much better) version of this dish
at the Zuni Café in San Francisco a few years ago. I couldn’t say how long ago it was exactly, as we have religiously been having lunch at the Zuni Café almost every summer since my husband first introduced me to his family eighteen years ago. He grew up in San Francisco and his parents have since moved to Marin County, an hour North of the city. And almost every year since I met him, we have been joining them, his siblings and – in a more distant past - his uncles, aunts and numerous cousins, in a rental summer house at Stinson Beach. I fell in love with Stinson and its spectacular surroundings as soon as I set foot there, and to this day it remains one of my two or three favorite places on this planet. I will probably have the opportunity to write about this later, but for now, suffice it to say that a day trip to San Francisco is always on the menu when we go to Stinson, in no small part because of the Zuni Café.
The first time we went to Zuni, there were just two of us and we ate at one of the corner tables by the large, floor-to-ceiling windows that make the space so engaging. Since then, we have kept adding children to this original vignette. First there was one high chair, then a little boy and a baby girl in a high chair. Then another high chair, and another. Last summer we couldn’t go because of Covid, so the last time we went there, two years ago, my youngest son was only 11 months old. Were we sitting downstairs by that corner window, or on the slightly more formal second-floor dining room? I couldn’t say. Neither could I say if we had the pasta with cherry tomatoes and corn that day. It might have been two years before that, when he wasn’t born yet. The summer when he was born, we obviously couldn’t go. And as it happened, my 10-year-old daughter also has a summer birthday (more on the delights of summer pregnancies in New York here), so we didn’t go that year either.
So, some lunches were missed at Zuni – mostly because of births, and, except for Covid last summer, for other reasons I cannot remember. Except the two times when we did go to California but showed up on a Monday, unaware (well, the first time at least) that the restaurant was closed that day. So I couldn’t say for sure how many lunches I have had at Zuni, but I do know that it has become an essential part of my mental landscape when I think of California, and one of our favorite family traditions.
The menu always changes slightly. But I know I will find it on a simple cardstock page, with a small selection of dishes that makes ordering quite easy. For a while we could always rely on the delicious burger served on focaccia bread, and the pizza with ricotta salata for the kids. The pasta with corn was somewhat of a surprise but we were able to have it twice – it seems to no longer be featured on the menu, at least for now. It was the first time I had corn with pasta, and I wasn’t sure I would like it, but I did a quick job of slurping down all my tagliatelle. When we came back I tried to replicate it at home (it is NOT featured in the otherwise wonderful Zuni Café Cookbook) and wasn’t completely successful, but it was satisfying enough. I used a recipe from the Food Network, which seemed to be the closest to what we had at Zuni, mostly because it uses chicken broth.
This summer, however, I have been disappointed with the result and found that I had to use very little stock if I didn’t want the pasta to end up soaking in a somewhat bland liquid. But you also do not want it to be dry, so it can be a tricky act to juggle, and one with which I wasn’t very successful so far this summer. Another key to a successful Zuni pasta is using the best quality corn, and only at peak summer season. The corn I got at the beginning of June from my local supermarket stayed crunchy and a bit acid even after cooking, and last week wasn’t much better despite having officially entered summer. As a French native, I didn’t grow up eating corn, except for its sad canned version that was sometimes, and quite randomly, added to salads or rather sad-looking “assiettes de crudités”. I discovered the sheer pleasure of eating corn on the cob with my mother-in-law, a fine vegetarian cook who taught me how to barely dip corn in water for a minute or two and slather it with copious amounts of melted butter and crunchy Kosher salt. The corn in the Zuni pasta dish doesn’t occupy center stage in the same way, but if cooked right it does add a very nice sweetness to the dish. So I strongly encourage you to not make my mistake and make sure you only use the very best corn you can find. Tagliatelle with corn and cherry tomatoes Adapted from the Food Network
Serves 2 Extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, smashed
Pinch crushed red pepper (I have made this dish without it and it is fine)
1 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock (I personally think this is too much, see above)
Kosher salt
2 ears corn, kernels cut off the cob
1/2 pound fresh tagliatelle (I use 3 to 4 times that for my hungry family and have to adjust all quantities accordingly)
1/2 cup grated parmigiana
6 basil leaves, chiffonade
1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. 2. Coat a large sauté pan with olive oil and add the garlic and the crushed red pepper, if using. Bring the pan to a medium-high heat. When the garlic has turned golden brown, remove it and discard. Add the grape tomatoes and half the stock and season with salt. Simmer the pan until the tomatoes have wilted and let off their juices. Add the corn and the remaining stock and simmer until the corn is cooked through. 3. While the corn is cooking add the pasta to the pot of salty boiling water. Cook the pasta until the water comes back to a rolling boil plus 1 minute. Remove the pasta from the water and add it to the sauté pan with the tomatoes and corn. Add about a half a cup of the pasta cooking water (if it looks like it is needed – you might end up with the opposite problem of having too much liquid in the pasta, see above) and cook until the water has evaporated and the sauce clings to the pasta. Remove the pan from the heat. Toss in the parmigiana, basil and a big drizzle of high quality extra-virgin olive oil. Stir or toss the pasta vigorously. Divide the pasta between 2 serving dishes, sprinkle with a little more grated parmigiana, and serve immediately.