Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

Okay, this was the best dinner I had for awhile. Super duper yummy. You'd think that the amount of sun-dried tomatoes would be overpowering but it is deliciously perfect. The tomatoes almost take on a meat like texture.

You have to try it. My whole family loved it, including the (very recently) picky toddler!

The original recipe is Giada's. You can find it here.

To her recipe, I added more basil because I love basil. Plus, we have a basil bush that needed to be trimmed.

I also decided to add pine nuts to give it a deeper flavor. And more garlic. If you're not into super garlicky foods just put in a clove or two.

Also different is that I used little bags of sun-dried tomatoes not packed in oil.

For veggies, I picked lettuce, washed the leaves and stacked them on a plate. It was a nice change from eating salads. Because the pasta had so much flavor, the lettuce was just a nice little palate cleanser.

Ingredients

8 oz                 sun-dried tomatoes

3                      garlic cloves

1/4 cup            pine nuts

2 cups             basil leaves, packed

1/2 cup            freshly grated Parmesan cheese

3/4-1 cup         extra-virgin olive oil

                        freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. In food processor, add garlic cloves and turn on until finely chopped.
2. Add sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts and basil and blend streaming in olive oil until tomatoes are finely chopped. Texture should be fairly thick. Add more oil if it starts to form a ball. Then add cheese and pulse until combined. Season with pepper.
3. Serve with any pasta.