Gelsons Recipes

Penne with Pesto

Serves 12

any people who love pesto sauce never eat it because it is so high in fat and calories. I use a heart-healthy combination of olive oil and silken tofu (which you cannot detect), and trade in the refined pasta for fiber-rich whole-wheat pasta. A little bit of baby spinach adds some extra phytonutrients to the mix, too. This recipe is delicious, but don't forget that a serving of cooked pasta is just ½ cup!

Ingredients:

3 cups basil leaves, semi-firmly packed (about 3 large bunches)
1 cup baby spinach, semi-firmly packed
3-4 cloves Melissa's organic garlic
5 tablespoons Flanigan Farms pine nuts, toasted and cooled
½ package (8 ounces) Melissa's organic silken tofu
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup grated imported Reggiano Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons Napa Valley organic olive oil
3 ½ cups De Cecco whole-wheat penne pasta (uncooked)
½ cup Sonoma marinated sun dried tomatoes, drained and chopped

Instructions:

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.

Each ½-cup serving of cooked pasta with sauce contains:
Calories Fat Saturated Fat Trans Fat Cholesterol Sodium Total Carbohydrate Dietary Fiber Sugars Protein Vitamin A Vitamin C Calcium Iron	150 8 g 1 g 0 mg 0 mg 130 g 17 g 4 g 0 g 6 g 18% DV 13% DV 7% DV 10% DV