Pasta Pesto and Cherry Tomatoes
December 14, 2011 at 4:45 pm 2 comments
I am cooking out of Rush-Hour Recipes this week and this is one of the recipes I chose. I LOVE it!! I am a real fan of pesto to begin with and this recipe is so easy and delicious I could have eaten the whole bowl myself. I ate it for dinner last night hot and for lunch today cold. I had to add some pesto today just to loosen it up a bit but I loved it both ways and I know I’ll be using this recipe over and over.
The recipe was submitted by Barbara Bargdill of Gooseberry Patch.
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Pasta Pesto & Cherry Tomatoes
12 oz box of rotini or fusilli pasta, uncooked
3 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered ~ I used grape tomatoes, halved
salt to taste
1/4 cup basil pesto ~ I used slightly more
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Garnish with grated Romano cheese if desired
Cook pasta according to the package until tender and drain, reserving one cup of the cooking liquid in case it’s needed to moisten the pasta. Return pasta to the cooking pot.
In a bowl, toss the quartered tomatoes with the salt and then the pesto.
Add tomato mixture to the pasta and add some of the cooking liquid at this point if it’s needed. I did need a little but probably less than 1/4 cup.
Add the mozzarella cheese and toss. After plating, add the Romano to the top of the pasta on each plate.
Makes 4 servings as a main dish; 6-8 as a side dish.
Happy Cooking!
Entry filed under: Cookbook Recipes, Easy, Entertaining, Gooseberry Patch, Main Dish, Pasta, Recipes, Side Dish. Tags: Easy, Entertaining, Food, Gooseberry Patch, Main Dish, Mozzarella, Pasta, Pesto, PostAweek2011, Recipe, Recipes, Side Dish.
1.
Ann Kirk | December 14, 2011 at 11:35 pm
Something along this line is one of my favorite go-to recipes. I always have black olives available and would add along with the tomatoes. For a company supper once I did the same thing and besides olives added feta cheese (in addition to the other cheese) and sauteed shrimp, more garlic and parsley. Could also add articoke pieces. Easy, had everything cut up in advance and fixed it as people drank carrot soup as an appetiser. Hint: get a lot of the stuff off the salad bar and you can get just the amount you choose and don’t even have to cut it up.
2.
Karen | December 14, 2011 at 8:57 pm
Pesto makes a delicious pasta dish hot or cold. If you don’t have additional pesto for left overs, just heating a little chicken or vegetable stock, ever water and adding to the pasta works if it becomes dry. It is just like saving and using a little of the pasta water to add moisture when you first make it.