Linguine with Sundried Tomato Pesto Cream Sauce a simple pasta dish for a great weeknight dinner.
Cream pastas are my absolute favorite.
Just look at the sauce that coats every strand.
Have you ever had one of those moments where a recipe idea formulates in your head and then it just snowballs? It’s like the more you think about it, the more it all sounds right and then you realize that it’s a worth a shot and there’s nothing to lose.
I love those moments. I love trial and error in the kitchen. It’s what makes us food bloggers, recipe developers, foodies, etc. We literally crave the tribulations of developing a recipe whether or not it fails and whether or not we end up ordering take out or running out to McDonald’s or Chick-Fil-A (are you craving that now?). It’s a sense of adventure and yet all at the same time, the moment it all comes together, it’s the greatest feeling in the world. You feel so successful and accomplished.
Who am I right now? That was all so deep and so out of scope for me. But seriously. I love those moments.
And this dish was spawned from one of those moments. After I made my sundried tomato pesto, I knew I had to make a pasta dish with it and I knew it had to have cream sauce. How I was going to make it, I didn’t know. I was in my office one afternoon trying to figure out dinner and I started going through my refrigerator in my head. I started to put ingredients together and then dinner was planned.
This dish did not let me down. It had such a great cream sauce, made out of mascarpone cheese (yes, I’m obsessed with that stuff), heavy cream, and the sundried tomato pesto. Those 3 amazing ingredients created the most amazing cream sauce I ever put in my mouth (get your mind out of the gutter). I seriously could not get enough of this pasta. Too bad I made just enough for J & I so we were both very sad when we slurped up our last noodle.
Now that I’ve praised this dish enough, you should go make this for someone you love because, well, why wouldn’t you want to share the deliciousness? But I won’t judge you if you want to make it and keep it all for yourself :)
linguine with sundried tomato pesto cream sauce
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp sundried tomato pesto
- 1/2 cup of heavy cream
- 4 oz mascarpone cheese
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- Salt, to taste
- 8 oz dry linguine pasta
- Fresh parsley, to top
Instructions
- In a pot, boil water and season with salt. Add in the dried pasta and cook until done.
- In the meantime, to make your sauce, in a large skillet over medium high heat, add the pesto and heavy cream. Stir together until well combined then add in the mascarpone cheese. Stir until well combined and the cheese has melted. Add in the red pepper flakes, salt (to taste) and let sauce simmer over low heat for 15 minutes, or until sauce has thickened. If sauce gets too thick, use some of the pasta water to thin it out.
- When pasta is done, add to the sauce and stir to combine, coating every strand.
- Serve with fresh parsley on top.
Notes
I never used to like cream pasta sauces but they are my boyfriend’s favourite so I’m gradually coming round to them. I will have to put this on the list to try because it looks so good!
This looks so pretty! I’ve never been one to like creamy pasta sauces like this – but this sounds great! ^^
I LIVE FOR CREAM.
and pasta.
and pesto.
and wine.
what?
i’ve got three words for you. OM NOM NOM. but for real, that pasta looks amazingly delicious. nicely done, friend!
Sundried tomatoes are one of the few foods on my “do not like” list–but, as the true non-picky-eat-anything lady that I am, I’m always open to being proven wrong. This pasta looks fantastic, and getting the sundrieds out of their chewy, tart consistency and thrown in with some garlic and pinenuts I think I could really get into this pasta!
This sounds divine!!
yummm!
Get out of here! This looks absolutely delicious and sinful, I love it!
oh wow – this is exactly the type of pasta that I order at restaurants! Looks wonderful Julie!
This sounds delicious! I love trial and error in the kitchen!
Pasta is pretty much my life. This looks delicious, pinning! Love hearing about the inner workings of your mind for a recipe :)
So we both mentioned Chick-fil-A in our posts today. Now I’m craving it double time!
It’s almost midnight, I’m up way too late reading food blogs and getting hungry again since it’s been about 6 hours since dinner. Not a good combination, that this post is just exacerbating! In a good way of course ;)
Great use of the tomato pesto. Looks absolutely scrumptious.
Sounds simple yet delicious. Think I’ll try this with an addition of fresh basil or just basil pesto mixed in as well!
WOW, this looks and sounds amaaazing.
Trying this recipe out this evening and just shared the recipe :)
Thanks for the great idea!
J
Hi Jess,
Thanks for visiting my blog. However, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use my picture and do a direct copy/paste of my recipe. I have disclaimers on my blog here: (https://www.tablefortwoblog.com/faq/) & on the right sidebar about using my photography. While my material is covered under the creative commons license, if you are going to just copy/paste my words, you might as well just link to my blog post instead of making this a new entry on your own blog.
If you are new to blogging, please read this article to prevent any more instances like this in the future & having other food bloggers come to you upset: http://foodblogalliance.com/2009/04/recipe-attribution.php
Thank you,
Julie
Hi Julie,
Very sorry if I have upset you. I will take the post down, but was sure to give full credit (and admiration!) where it was due, encouraging others to visit your blog. I actually found your recipe through pinterest so the image is floating out there. My sincere apologies. I am only a fan.
Best regards,`
Jessica
Jess, it’s okay. I appreciate you taking it down (you don’t have to, you can just link back to my post without having the picture or the recipe, just text of your own). You have not upset me, I’m happy to have you as a fan but just wanted to let you know how recipe attribution should not be done in that way. Thanks & I hope I can continue to share with you delicious dishes :)
Made this tonight. It was very good! I did not add any salt to the sauxe (wife does not like much) so it was a little bland until I added salt to my portion. Thank you for the recipe, it was easy to pull together.
Thanks for the feedback, John! I’m glad you enjoyed it. It’s one of my favorite dishes :)
I love this pasta, it’s amazing. Thanks
Just made this for dinner and my husband said it was AWESOME! Gave it a 9.4 food rating. Delicious! Thanks for sharing.
I made this for dinner a couple days ago and i have to say that it was REALLY GOOD!
However, i do have to say that this pasta should definitely be eat either immediately or within the same day as when you make it. I found that if i stored leftovers in the fridge to save for the next day, the sauce would clump together, and the oil from the sun-dried tomato pesto would sink to the bottom of the container.
This pasta dish was so delicious! I made it along with my daughter as soux chef, as a treat for myself for Mother’s Day – it truly was a meal fit for a celebration! I used a marscapone substitution (cream cheese +sour cream+cream) to save a little $, and it worked perfectly well. I’ll need to try more of your recipes, Julie.
Oops – forgot to leave a rating