Pasta with sun-dried tomato paste sauce

 

This recipe is so 2001. It's from a compendium of Food & Wine recipes for that year, but you don't necessarily need to have that date reference to pin down the food era. It dates from before carbs' fall from grace (well before pasta's recent resurgence), and capers and sun-dried tomato paste in a cream sauce are definitely of that time palate. But I haven't made this particular recipe before, so it's technically newish to me.

Pasta with sun-dried tomatoes

Adapted from Food & Wine magazine's 2001 Cookbook  At $4.70 in hardcover, it's now cheaper than the subscription was.

Ingredients

1 pound short pasta (fusilli or penne would be good candidates)

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

⅓ cup sun-dried tomato paste

1 tablespoon capers

¼ cup white wine

½ cup heavy cream

½ cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Method

Cook pasta to al dente. Drain, reserving cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large deep skillet. Add garlic, cooking just until fragrant. Add tomato paste, capers and wine. Stir and cook 1 minute. Stir in cream and Gorgonzola. Cook for a few minutes until cheese melts.

Stir in cooked pasta into sauce and toss to coat. Add pasta cooking liquid as needed to make desired sauce consistency. Stir in 6 tablespoons Parmesan and the parsley. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper as needed. Serve garnished with more Parmesan.

Rating: There's nothing wrong with a creamy tomato sauce, and the capers and Gorgonzola give it some extra tang. I'd make it again if that's what was in my pantry and refrigerator, which is what led me down this road.