Dinner Recipes

Penne with Pesto

Penne with Pesto
printPrint

Share:

Dinner

Penne with Pesto

Serves: 12

Ingredients

3 cups basil leaves semi firmly packed about 3 large bunches
1 cup baby spinach semi firmly packed
3 to 4 cloves Melissas organic garlic
5 tablespoons Flanigan Farms pine nuts toasted and cooled
package 8 ounces Melissas organic silken tofu
teaspoon salt
teaspoon Pepper
1/3 cup grated imported Reggiano Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons Napa Valley organic olive oil
3 cups De Cecco whole wheat penne pasta uncooked
cup Sonoma marinated sun dried tomatoes drained and chopped

Directions

Combine the basil, spinach, garlic, toasted pine nuts, tofu, salt, and pepper in the work bowl of a food processor. Process into a thick paste, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Add the cheese and turn on the machine. Slowly drizzle in the oil with the machine running.

In a large pot, bring pasta water to a boil. Add penne and cook ten minutes. After about ten minutes, add chopped sun dried tomatoes to the water. Test pasta after 12 minutes total cooking time I like to cook mine for 13 minutes. Reserve about one cup of the cooking water before draining pasta. Stir in cooking water, one tablespoon at a time, to pesto to thin it out. Use about 1/4 cup concentrated pesto for every cup of cooked pasta. Add pasta and tomatoes back to pot, stir in diluted pesto and serve.