This is kind of like a sun dried tomato pesto pasta…but it’s creamy. 🙂 You will never, ever get a store bought sauce with this much sun dried tomato flavour in my Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta. Or simply by stirring through chopped sun dried tomato!
Oh – and only 400 calories a serving. And you know my portions aren’t teeny tiny!
Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta
I know this is a rather different way to make a sun dried tomato pasta, but bear with me – it works, it’s super simple and there is logic to my madness. And it’s darn tasty!
I’ve made sun dried tomato pasta before by just by stirring chopped up bits of sun dried tomato through a cream based sauce. Still lovely, don’t get me wrong! But I really wanted to try to increase the intensity of sun dried tomato flavour throughout all the sauce, rather than just getting little bursts of flavour.
So I decided to whizz up a sauce in the blender. When you take the lid off the blender, you’re hit with a waft of sun dried tomato fragrance and you just know this pasta is going to be delish!
Plus, by pureeing the sauce, the sun dried tomato thickens it and makes it richer too, which means you don’t actually need to use that much cream and you still get what tastes like rich, creamy sauce. I only use 1/4 cup of cream in this, mixed with milk, and no thickener. But look how thick the sauce is!
Sometimes I roast up veggies and toss them through the pasta. But I happened to have some big bunches of English spinach I got on sale for just $0.99 each. So I chopped it up, gave it a good rinse, shook it dry then stirred it right into the pasta.
If you want to add protein into this, chicken is lovely and I certainly wouldn’t say no to bacon either. 🙂
Some fresh basil is a perfect pairing to add a touch of freshness to an otherwise rather creamy sauce. Whizzing it up in the sauce really brings out the delicate smell of the basil that mingles with the sun dried tomato. Sorry, I know I keep talking about the smell but it’s the best part of cooking this – the moment when you lift the lid off the blender and get the first waft, and you just know you’re in for a real treat!
I don’t know how else to describe this other than to say it’s like a pesto, but it’s creamy and a lot less oily because unlike pesto, this is not whizzed up using oil, the base is milk with a bit of cream.
I like to serve this Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta hot like other creamy pastas but people I’ve given leftovers of this to said that it’s just as nice at room temperature. 🙂
If you’re in the mood for a carb blow out, add Better-Than-Dominos Garlic Bread or Cheesy Garlic Bread! – Nagi x
More ways to get your creamy pasta fix!
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Baked Mac and Cheese – and try the Shrimp version!
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Browse all pasta recipes
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Sun Dried Tomato Pasta
Ingredients
Creamy Sauce
- 3/4 cup (tightly packed) sun dried tomatoes, roughly chopped (Note 1) + more for garnish
- 1/2 cup basil leaves , lightly packed
- 1/4 cup yoghurt or sour cream (optional) (Note 2)
- 1/4 cup cream (Note 3)
- 1 3/4 cups milk (I use low fat)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste (optional) (Note 4)
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese , finely grated
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Pepper
Pasta
- 300 g pasta of choice (I like penne/ziti)
- 1 tbsp oil from sun dried tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves , crushed
- 1 small onion , finely diced (brown, white or yellow)
- 4 cups (tightly packed) finely shredded fresh English spinach
To Serve (optional)
- Parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil , finely shredded
Instructions
- Place the Creamy Sauce ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Adjust salt to your taste.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook for 20 seconds, then add onion and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until translucent and cooked through.
- Meanwhile, cook your pasta of choice in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente (just cooked through but still firm). SCOOP out 1 mug of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta.
- Add the pasta into the skillet, then pour the Creamy Sauce in, all the spinach and about 1/2 cup of the pasta water (Note 5). Stir to coat the pasta in the sauce and to wilt the spinach. Cook, stirring gently, for about 2 minutes until the sauce is warmed through. Adjust salt to taste.
- Use the remaining pasta water to get the sauce to the consistency you want.
- Remove from the stove and serve immediately, with more parmesan cheese and basil if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Marisa Franca @ All Our Wayc says
What a wonderful recipe — I could grab that plate and run with it. In fact, I want a set of those dishes 🙂 They scream settle back and enjoy — this is NO formal meal. If you want to dribble sauce down your chin it’s okay. I think I’d better gear up for dumpster diving!! Or perhaps I’ll try Goodwill first. I will make the sauce once I get some informal dinnerware! Great job on the recipe and photo. I like your story!!
Nagi | RecipeTin says
Thank you Marisa!! I did wonder whether this was a bit odd for most, I’m glad you don’t disapprove! N x
Susan says
Guess who never makes creamy pasta sauce? Has never made creamy pasta sauce? This does sound delicious. Just might try it when I get in the mood for a tomato sauce (don’t do that real often).
Nagi | RecipeTin says
I very rarely make creamy sauces 🙂 Very indulgent! This is kinda a compromise because it’s creamy but not actually rich creamy, if that makes sense? Also, not tomatoey in the traditional sense, it’s sun-dried tomatoey!! N x
The Hungry Mum says
to be honest I am not usually a fan of sun-dried tomato but I do like the flavour – if that makes sense! I think it is a texture thing. This would be the perfect sauce for me as it would pack a punch without the texture! Am such a sook 😉
Nagi | RecipeTin says
No – I get it, I get it! I find that sometimes they are really tough and chewy which is so disappointing 🙂