Reviewed: Feb. 12, 2012

Made this for a special Valentine's dinner with my husband. Used suggestions of other reviews including adding toasted pine nuts and parmesan. I also added extra mushrooms and cooked them in oil from the sun dried tomatoes packed in oil. I used Classico jarred pesto also. It turned out very flavorful. Will definitely make again!!

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
1 user found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Angie

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Wichita, Kansas, USA

Living In: Norman, Oklahoma, USA

Reviewed: Sep. 24, 2011

A really great, easy pasta dish. I didn't have bow tie pasta so I just used rotini, and pine nuts are a bit expensive for my budget so I had to leave them out. Nonetheless, it think the pasta turned out really well and was a tasty weekend lunch. Thanks for sharing :)

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
2 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

collegechef08

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: College Park, Maryland, USA

Reviewed: Sep. 11, 2011

I've enjoyed this recipe multiple times and agree with the addition of some parmesan. I took it on a canoe/camping trip and used dried mushrooms (had to rehydrate them). The meal was light to pack and carry and a big hit with the hungry campers!

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
2 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Cleveland1179

Reviewed: Sep. 4, 2011

The cayenne pepper was a bit much and I enjoy spicy foods. I would tell anyone else making this to gradually add it in to suit your tastes. Other than that, the flavoring seemed a little bland, which was ironic given that the recipe calls for pesto and sun-dried tomatoes, two really great tasting ingredients. Not sure about this one...

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
3 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

frnprincesse

Reviewed: Feb. 14, 2011

It's good, but nothing overly special.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
2 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Debra

Reviewed: Sep. 30, 2010

I am giving this five stars based on a few changes. I made regular pesto (3 C fresh basil, 1/5 C pine nuts, 1/4 c parmesan, 3/4 c olive oil, 3 cloves garlic) in the food processor. Then in a sauce pan I sauteed cut up chicken breast in olive oil with pepper and 1 t mined garlic. I then added the fresh mushrooms, cayenne pepper and 5 oz sundried tomatoes (The salt is not needed for this recipe). After all of that was cooked, I drained the excess oil before adding the pesto. I let it simmer until the pesto was warmed through and served over whole grain penne. I sprinkled parmesan on top of it all. It was absolutely delicious and looked really gourmet.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
7 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

shoeaholic

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Rocky Mount, North Carolina, USA

Living In: Washington, D.C., USA

Reviewed: Mar. 10, 2010

This recipe was really good to me because I love sun-dried tomatoes but the spices were lacking a little. I followed the recipe to the t. The family was not so impressed so I probably won't make this again. Sorry.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
3 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

theboss

Reviewed: Jan. 16, 2010

My husband really enjoyed this and so did I! I made a few changes. I used 1/2 cup bottled pesto, about 5 ounces sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil & spices, used red pepper flakes instead of cayenne, and used thin spaghetti in place of bow tie pasta. I also grilled up two thinly sliced chicken breasts, cooked in a bit of the rich oil from the sun dried tomatoes jar. We had the chicken cut up on top of the pasta, with pine nuts and parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. Gourmet meal and something I would definitely make again!

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
22 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

hardrockgirl

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Yorba Linda, California, USA

Living In: Mechanicsville, Virginia, USA

Reviewed: Dec. 24, 2009

very good-followed advise of previous reviewer and used jarred pesto. I omitted mushrooms and then used jarred sun dried tomatos in oil-drain on paper towels before adding so not too oily.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
3 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

chargis1

Cooking Level: Expert

Living In: Springfield, Missouri, USA

Reviewed: Oct. 10, 2009

Both my husband and I loved this, though we made a couple of minor changes. We liked it so much I'm making it for company tomorrow! A great dish for pasta that's not just another tomato sauce. I cheated and (per a previous post) used 6 TBL of Classico pesto sauce instead of making my own. I also used a large can of mushrooms, fresh ones always seem to disintegrate on me. Just for more color I threw in 1/2 can of drained petite diced tomatoes. (I don't think they added any flavor.) I used jarred marinated sun dried tomatoes and cut them into pieces with scissors, just threw them right in this way..no blanching. We used angel hair pasta just 'coz we had that - again, this was SO good! I also ate it room temp the next day, yummy still. A good dish for a pot luck. Like other reviewers mentioned, this only made enough sauce for about 10 oz of pasta. (Well, angel hair anyway.) And since hubby doesn't like spicy food, I only threw in two dashes of cayenne - that still gave it a good kick.

Was this review helpful? [ YES ]
4 users found this review helpful