Easy Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
When I went to visit a friend a few months ago, she made an amazing vegan tuscan pasta recipe from rabbitandwolves.com; I knew my husband would love the sun-dried tomatoes so I decided to work on a similar version at home. Below is what I ended up with – let me know what you think if you try it! I feel like it pairs well to serve with a vegetable like Brussel Sprouts, green beans, or broccoli – the photos below are from when I made it with fresh green beans cooked using a recipe from Katie at Healthy Seasonal Recipes.
This is a great pasta with only a few ingredients. There’s a little more cleaning involved afterwards than I’d like, but it’s worth it.
Ingredients
3/4 box (12 oz) of penne pasta
Water + salt for cooking pasta
1 cup reserved pasta water (can use normal water if forget)
1-2 Tbsp of olive oil (less if you feel like there’s a lot of oil in the sun-dried tomatoes)
4 oz sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (I like the California Sun Dry brand – julienne cut with herbs; I chop them a bit more)1-2 Tbsp minced garlic
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (to taste; for more spice try Flatiron Pepper Co Four Pepper Blend)
4 oz heavy whipping cream
1/3 to 2/3 cup chopped spinach
1/3 to 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- Tools
Directions
- Bring salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to instructions. Reserve one cup of water before draining. While the pasta is cooking, make the sun-dried tomato sauce in the steps below.
- Chop 4 oz of sun-dried tomatoes as much as possible; should be similar to diced. Pour any excess oil from the sun-dried tomatoes into the large skillet and heat on low to medium heat.
- Add 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil to the saute pan. (I use closer to 1 Tbsp if there was a lot of sun-dried tomato oil, and closer to 2 Tbsp if there wasn’t as much).
- After about a minute, add the following ingredients to the saute pan: chopped sun-dried tomatoes, 2 Tbsp garlic, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper. Saute for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the 1 cup of pasta water and 4 oz heavy whipping cream to the saute pan. Bring to a low boil and stir occasionally for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the chopped spinach and parmesan to the saute pan and stir until the parmesan is melted.
- Stir in the cooked penne noodles.
