Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce

This pasta....oh man. 

It's just so amazingly delicious, and was really perfect with the roast chicken we had a couple of weeks ago.

In this time of chauffeuring, sometimes dinner prep has been on the fly. We took all the leftovers from that meal one night and just put them all together in a bowl. I didn't have any tomatoes the night we made it, so I left them out but we didn't miss them. Also, I couldn't find pine nuts to make my own pesto, so I just bought some pesto that was ready-made, and added it until it looked right. If you do that, you can totally skip the first step of this recipe, which I found here. Do yourself a favor and give it a try. 

Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce

• 3/4 cups Fresh Basil Leaves
• 1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 3 Tablespoons Pine Nuts
• 2 cloves Garlic, Peeled
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1/4 cup Grated Parmesan (additional)
• 12 ounces, weight Pasta (cavitappi, Fusilli) I had penne, so that's what I used, but any short-ish pasta will probably work fine.
• 2 whole Tomatoes, DicedCook pasta until al dente.

Add basil leaves, 1/2 cup Parmesan, pine nuts, and salt and pepper to a food processor or blender. Turn machine on, then drizzle in olive oil while it mixes. Continue blending until combined, adding additional olive oil if needed. Set aside.

Heat cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add pesto and stir.

Drain pasta and place in a serving bowl. Pour pesto cream over the top. Toss to combine. Add diced tomatoes and toss quickly. Serve immediately. Makes 8 side dish servings.

Comments

[Rachelle]

Oooo! Yum!! I love pesto! We’ll have to give this a try.