Try Giada’s Sun-Dried Pesto Penne Pasta
If you have any basil in your garden, you are going to fall in love with making this quick and easy summer pasta dish over and over again! This is a recipe from Giada De Laurentis from Food Network and is such a hit at our house. I absolutely love recipes with sun-dried tomatoes and am always looking for more ways to use them. This is a pasta dish with penne pasta and an easy sun-dried tomato pesto sauce that goes great with more than just this pasta dish.
You can reserve some of the pesto to make turkey sandwiches on baguettes. Another suggestion was to use it to make crostini. That would be so flavorful and delicious!
The key to making sure this pesto is salted properly and has plenty of flavor is to make sure to keep at least one whole cup of the cooking water from the pasta to thin the pesto sauce down--this is a crucial step. And make sure your pasta water is plenty salty--it should taste salty like the sea.
This dish doesn’t have an protein in it or anything other than the penne and sauce as written, but here are some delicious options for add-ins to make it more filling, if you’d like:
Options for add-ins to make it more spicy or flavorful:
12 ounces penne pasta
1 (8.5-ounce) jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
2 garlic cloves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Directions:
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You can reserve some of the pesto to make turkey sandwiches on baguettes. Another suggestion was to use it to make crostini. That would be so flavorful and delicious!
The key to making sure this pesto is salted properly and has plenty of flavor is to make sure to keep at least one whole cup of the cooking water from the pasta to thin the pesto sauce down--this is a crucial step. And make sure your pasta water is plenty salty--it should taste salty like the sea.
This dish doesn’t have an protein in it or anything other than the penne and sauce as written, but here are some delicious options for add-ins to make it more filling, if you’d like:
- Shrimp
- Chicken--rotisserie chicken would be super easy or grilled chicken tenders
- Mushrooms
- Italian Sausage
- Ricotta cheese--one reviewer mentioned adding ricotta cheese after it cooked to individual plates, whoever wanted it, and that it was a hit
- Steamed broccoli
- Ground beef
- Grilled salmon
Options for add-ins to make it more spicy or flavorful:
- Use up to one teaspoon of pepper until you reach your desired level of spice
- Splash of lemon juice for a little extra depth of flavor
- Add 1 teaspoon of capers and 1 tsp of the brine to add a little extra saltiness and flavor
- Goat cheese or goat cheese feta tastes delicious and gives it bit of extra bite to this recipe
- Add a handful of pine nuts if you love them
- Try to use the real block of parmesan cheese that you grate by hand instead of the jar of grated parmesan cheese
- You can also add cubed mozzarella for more color and taste
Penne with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
Author: Giada De Laurentiis
Prep time:
Cook time:
Yield: 4 servings
Serving size: 4
Calories per serving: 315
Ingredients:
Cook time:
Yield: 4 servings
Serving size: 4
Calories per serving: 315
12 ounces penne pasta
1 (8.5-ounce) jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
2 garlic cloves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Directions:
Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
Meanwhile, blend the sun-dried tomatoes and their oil, garlic, salt and pepper, to taste, and basil in a food processor and blend until the tomatoes are finely chopped. Transfer the tomato mixture to a large bowl. Stir in the Parmesan.
Add the pasta to the pesto and toss to coat, adding enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper and serve.
Source: foodnetwork.com
Meanwhile, blend the sun-dried tomatoes and their oil, garlic, salt and pepper, to taste, and basil in a food processor and blend until the tomatoes are finely chopped. Transfer the tomato mixture to a large bowl. Stir in the Parmesan.
Add the pasta to the pesto and toss to coat, adding enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper and serve.
Source: foodnetwork.com
Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.
Mary Richardson
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
Email the author! mary@dvo.com
