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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.