Corn and Poblano Lasagna

Marcella Valladolid, you have outdone yourself. She is the cute little chef on the Food Network that does the show Mexican Made Easy. I honestly don't watch it that often, but I do DVR episodes and scan through them real quick to make sure I don't miss anything I could learn; I just love Mexican food! Well, this is an episode that looked interesting and sounded so good I had to try it. This was just wonderful, nothing left to say. The star of the dish is the lasagna sauce. The mixture of fresh sweet corn and cream with a hint of garlic and thyme blended into this creamy wonderful sauce would go well with any vegetable lasagna you choose to throw together. I did find the sweetness of the sauce paired with the subtle heat of the poblanos nice. I used fresh white corn ears and cut the kernels off, the sauce is such an important flavor you need to make sure the corn is really good.    

Corn and Poblano Lasagna Recipe

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced, divided
2 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 2 ears), or frozen and thawed
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced white onion
1 large zucchini, thinly sliced lengthwise
4 poblano chiles, charred, peeled, stemmed, seeded and cut into 1-inch strips
12 (7 by 3-inch) no-boil lasagna sheets
2 cups shredded Oaxaca cheese, or mozzarella

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add 2/3 of the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Mix in the corn and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in the cream and thyme. Cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes for the flavors to incorporate. Turn off the heat and let cool slightly. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a small, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining garlic and cook for 1 minute. Mix in the zucchini and poblano strips and cook for 5 minutes for the flavors to incorporate. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat.

Spread about 1/4 of the corn mixture over the bottom of an 11 by 8-inch baking dish. Cover with a layer of 3 lasagna sheets. Spread 1/4 of the poblano mixture and 1/4 of the cheese over the pasta. Repeat the layering 3 more times. Cover with foil.

Bake until the pasta is cooked and tender, about 50 minutes. Remove the foil and turn up the oven temperature to broil. Broil until golden brown and bubbly, 8 to 10 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Kim's Notes: I used 4 ears of corn. I also used regular cream instead of heavy.
Recipe courtesy Marcela Valladolid