Lacking depth as is. If you want to make this dish taste like fine restaurant quality, do not reconstitute the sd tomatoes. Eliminate the broth altogether. Boil your penne to al dente. Then saute your garlic, onion, & red pepper flakes. After that, toss ALL ingredients together (do NOT pre-wilt the baby spinach, add it raw), and add in FRESH LEMON JUICE ("that extra something") and enough olive oil to very lightly coat, and maybe some cooked shrimp for a main course. It is also good with toasted walnuts if you don't want to spring on pine nuts. Sprinkle with FRESH shredded, not grated, parm or none at all. It will make the flavors pop instead of melting in or tasting powdery. This is how I made it for a dinner special as a restaurant cook and it was my most requested dish.
Really easy and very tasty! Few changes: used chicken broth oil packed tomatoes doubled the garlic and pepper flakes and added about a tbsp of fresh basil. Will make again.
One of my favorites ... very simple to prepare and tasty! I omit the pine nuts as a personal preference, substitute dehydrated tomatoes with julienne cut sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, no need to presoak them and adds great texture and flavor, and drizzle additional olive oil as the final step to moisten the pasta a bit. Serve with garlic bread and a glass of wine ... sophisticated simplicity. Prepare to impress! Photo available on my profile page.
Very good very simple. I added some artichoke hearts and a little salt to taste. Toast the pine nuts and use 1 Tbsp per serving. As others have said I would add a lot more spinach. Thanks one of the quickies for my recipe box. I may add some chicken next time.
This recipe is great as written but if you have a little extra time I'd reccommend soaking the sun dried toms. in redwine and chicken broth and throw in roasted minced garlic to the broth & wine- very aromatic!Leave them in about 1 hour. Also this recipe converts nicely in to a great dolled up version of Meditarrean Cous Cous dish. Just sub-in Cous Cous in place of the Penne.
This was really really good. I didnt have penne so i used angel hair and i also used the sundried tomatoes in oil. I sauted 4 cloves of garlic in a little oil added spinach and tomatoes and about 1 1/2 cups of the starch water from the pasta and 1/2 tsp of chicken broth seasoning. It was GOOOOOD! i personally used a little more sundried tomatoes because i love them i couldnt stop munchin on this after dinner it was soo good topped with an italian cheese blend! thank you
Ok...this was just plain AWESOME!!!! I made one addition...MUSHROOMS!!!!!!!!!!!! This dish was just screaming for them! Otherwise did not alter anything...yum...yum..yum...YUM!!!!!! Kudos to Madball! Thanks!
I can't wait to make this again with penne. I used ditalini b/c I had it on hand. Also I used chicken broth (well actually bouillon mixed with water b/c that's all I had shhh) - just popped it in the microwave for 2 minutes then let sit w/tomatoes for 15. I added an extra clove of garlic but next time I won't and only had 1/2 a bag of baby spinach but could have used a whole bag. Didn't have pine nuts but I m sure it would be perfect with them. Topped with gruyere and parmesan - DELICIOUS!!!
This pasta recipe is PERFECT! It was easily adaptable simple to prepare and looked beautiful in the serving bowl! Here were my substitutions: I had no broth so I used water. I used sun dried tomato spread instead of chopping tomatoes made a nice sauce! Also I had no pine nuts so I substituted slivered almonds. I will definitely make it again and throw in some chicken next time. Thanks for a great healthy family friendly recipe! Whip up a batch with a crusty loaf of bread and a nice salad and people will think you put much more effort into it than you really did!
