Happy October!! I’m still pretty unsure how we are already in the 10th month of the year, buuuuut I’m not complaining. The next few months are my FAVOURITE!! My birthday, Josh’s birthday, summer, the holiday season…so many fun things happening! But until then, let’s talk pasta – sundried tomato & spinach pasta!
I’m always on the look out for fun things to make ahead on the weekend and take for my lunches during the week – there’s only so many salads and sandwiches a girl can eat. But I’m also conscious that I don’t want to spend all my money on buying lunches and I know that as boring as they may be, salads and sandwiches are definitely a good healthy eating option.
One of my favourite food groups is pasta – it is my all time comfort food essential. But it often gets a bad rap because it tends to be accompanied with creamy sauces. I am 100% guilty of that! So when I come up with a new flavour combination involving vegetables and with a lightened up sauce that can go in pasta, it’s already a winner. I’ve had a jar of sundried tomatoes sitting in my fridge just waiting for the right moment and with all 4 of my spinach plants simultaneously deciding it was time for them to go to seed I knew I had to rescue what leaves I could. So obviously I threw everything in the pan and came up with sundried tomato & spinach pasta!
The sauce is super easy to make. Butter, garlic, sundried tomatoes, milk, chicken stock and mozzarella all cook away until the sauce is thick and creamy. Throw in the pasta and spinach, cook that down a little until the spinach is wilted and there it is!
This sundried tomato & spinach pasta is the perfect transition from winter to summer food. You can hold onto the comfort food levels that pasta brings to the table, but the fun fresh flavours of sundried tomatoes and spinach bring a little summer and excitement to the mix.
This flavour combination has got me all sorts of excited for the upcoming summer months – basil, fresh cherry tomatoes, peppers….eeeeek summer come at us!
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Ingredients
- 250 g dried penne pasta
- 30 g butter
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes sliced
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 1 1/2 cups spinach washed and roughly chopped
- Cracked pepper
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water before draining. Set cooked pasta aside.
- In a large frying pan over a medium heat melt the butter and add the garlic, cooking for about 2 minutes until the garlic is frangrant. Add the sundried tomatoes and cook for a further 1 minute.
- Add milk, stock and cheese, stir and bring to the boil (about 5 minutes). Allow to simmer for 15 minutes or until the cheese is all melted and the sauce starts to thicken up.
- Add pasta and spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes until the pasta is heated through and the spinach is wilted. Add the pasta water if the sauce needs thinning out.
- Serve immediately.
This looks so flavorful! You can’t go wrong with mozzarella and tomatoes, and I love that you managed to sneak a green veggie in there too 😛 It’s funny because we are just getting into fall right now… warm temperatures are goneeee for the rest of the year, haha!
Ohhh I’m sad for you! I’m excited for warm temperatures here but they’re taking their sweet time!