linguine with sundried tomato pesto cream sauce

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 :)

5 from 1 vote

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linguine with sundried tomato pesto cream sauce

Cream pastas are my absolute favorite! They coat every strand of pasta!

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 30 mins

Servings (adjustable, but please note that results, timing, and cookware may vary when adjusting servings): 2

Author: Julie Wampler

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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

You can add a protein to this such as chicken. It'd be a great addition :)