Penne Tricolore

SugaredAlmond's Note:

This tastes really fresh and summery, and is really quick to make. Fresh homemade pesto is really nice if you have some to hand, but shop-bought will do.

• Total Time: 15 mins
• Prep Time: 12 mins
• Cook Time: 3 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 2

• 7 ounces penne pasta, cooked until al dente
• 2 -3 tablespoons pesto sauce
• 14 cherry tomatoes
• 6 sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped roughly
• 1 tablespoon oil, from sun-dried tomato
• 1 red chili pepper, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 4 -5 ounces spinach, baby leaf preferably
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
• 2 -4 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, sliced thinly

Directions:

1. Roll the tomatoes in a teaspoon of the oil from the sundried tomatoes, and roast in a 220C oven for about 10 minutes, until just beginning to burst.
2. Heat the remaining oil until just beginning to sizzle and add garlic and chili. Immediately add spinach and wilt for 2 minutes, add sundried tomatoes.
3. Toss hot drained pasta with pesto, and stir into spinach. Stir in the roasted cherry tomatoes.
4. Put pasta in serving bowls, topping with goats cheese, pine nuts before serving.
5. Serve with Parmesan if you wish.

Reviews

[MathMom.calif]

We really enjoyed this. I just made some homemade pesto last week, so I finished it up on this recipe. I really enjoyed the pesto flavor along with the sundried tomatoes, spinach and creamy goat cheese. The pine nuts didn't add a lot to the dish for me, and when I make this again I may omit them. I couldn't find a red chili pepper at my local store, so I used half of an Anaheim pepper. I guess we don't eat such large portions. This recipe served our family of four. Will make again. Thanks! :)

[Arichka]

Thank you very much for posting this wonderful recepie. Very flavorful pasta dish. Since I don't like sun-dried tomatoes I substituted them with roasted bell pepper strips,it was very good. Thanks a lot, will make it again.

[Mama's Kitchen (Hope)]

Wonderful! Very fast to make and yummy! This was a wonderful meat free main dish for me! I used my own Speedy Spinach Pesto #176624. I had a hard time slicing my goat cheese so I just crumbled it over the top. Perfect! It allowed some goat cheese in each bite! I was worried that the chili pepper would over power or be too hot in this dish. So not the case! I used 1 red serrano- seeds removed and chopped it up in my mini food processor with the garlic- FAST! NExt time I will leave the seeds in or use more! The only thing that I will change next time is to add more cherry tomatoes- they were wonderful here- and maybe some fresh mushrooms. I did need a little salt and pepper here as well. This has so MUCH FLAVOR running through it and can be made so adaptable to adding a few more veggies here and there to suit each individual. Thanks Sugar!