Pasta with Sundried Tomato-Red Pepper Sauce

I served this with roasted broccoli
(coming soon to a blog near you)

H A P P Y  N E W  Y E A R !

You know you need to get a life when trying a new pasta shape is the most exciting thing you've done all week (sad, but true). Usually I use penne to make this dish, but I saw this cute, twisty gemelli at the store and gave it a try (I never noticed it before, but I'm sure it was there all along). 

This is my go to pasta recipe for company...it's just something a little different with some zing. Otherwise, I'm pretty content with plain old spaghetti with tomato sauce (actually, my favorite is ultra thin cappellini, a.k.a. angel hair). It cooks really fast and I love the texture.

PASTA WITH SUNDRIED TOMATO - RED PEPPER SAUCE
Makes 5-6 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup finely chopped drained oil-packed sundried tomatoes (9 oz. jar)
1 (7.5 oz.) jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper (or more or less to taste)
1 cup heavy cream (or half 'n half)
1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1 pound penne (or pasta of choice)
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1.      Heat oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add tomatoes, roasted red peppers, crushed red pepper and cream; simmer over medium heat 2 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup basil and simmer 1 minute longer.

2.      Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 3/4 cup pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot.

3.      Add sauce, cheese and remaining 1/2 cup basil to the pasta and toss to coat. Add enough reserved cooking liquid to pasta to moisten if dry.

adapted from Hollander Finegold (Eugene, OR)

gemelli draining (I already reserved some of the pasta cooking water)

What were some of my biggest highlights of 2010 you ask?  

Honestly I can't remember what I was even doing back in January, so I'd have to pick from more recent memories.  I'll go with playing the part of the tooth fairy for the first time when my daughter lost her first tooth about a month ago. It wasn't easy because she's a light sleeper, but I pulled it off. Number two is already pretty loose (and there are eighteen more after that), so I'm not out of the woods yet. Wish me luck.

Seeing the Pee Wee Herman Show on Broadway was another highlight. I've always been a big fan and my daughter has the dvd's, so now she's a fan too. We were lucky enough to catch Pee Wee (and Miss Yvonne) at the side door of the theater between shows. He came out and talked to the small crowd that was still left and even talked directly to my daughter (he gave her a big hellooooo and asked her how old she is). The truly amazing part, she actually answered him. That was a big thrill!

Plus we saw They Might Be Giants do one of their family shows. I think those guys are geniuses. I had actual goosebumps. It was fantastic. If you have a small child, I highly recommend their children's cd's & dvd's (it's kid music you'll actual like listening to in the car).  Of course their regular cd's are great too.

Starting a blog has also been fun. Especially with friends and family commenting from time to time. My new favorite hobby is checking my blog stats. There's a button that shows the "audience" and I love nothing more than when a new country pops up on there.  So far the list includes the United States, Croatia, France, Pakistan, Slovenia, United Kingdom, Singapore, Belgium, Germany, Jamaica, Russia, Romania, Jordan, Luxembourg, South Africa, Turkey, New Zealand, and Canada. I don't know who most of you are, but thank you for reading my blog! Please feel free to comment or ask questions (I like to think I do this for my own amusement, but between you and me, I have a feeling if my stats didn't change, I might lose interest).

UPDATE: Since I originally posted this, the following countries have also popped up: Brazil, Australia, Greece, India, Taiwan, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Serbia, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Hungary, Philippines, Macedonia, Paraguay, Colombia, Ukraine, Thailand, Israel, China, Portugal, Netherlands, Italy, Czech Republic, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Switzerland, Morocco, Bahrain, Sweden, Algeria, Costa Rica, Poland, Argentina, Iran, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ecuador, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Guam, Ireland, Peru, Finland, United Arab Emirates, Uganda, Japan, New Caledonia, Vietnam, Georgia, Belarus, Venezuela, British Virgin Islands, Saudi Arabia, Bhutan, Lithuania, Spain, Ghana, Estonia, Nigeria, Egypt, Latvia, Trinidad & Tobago, Cambodia, Lebanon, Cyprus, El Salvador, Malta, Guatemala, Azerbaijan, Norway, Maldives, Namibia, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Malta, Nepal, Albania, Réunion, Barbados, Armenia, Kuwait, Austria, Mauritius, Syria, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Honduras, Oman, Chile, Bolivia, Montenegro, Tunisia, Sudan, Brunei, Panama, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Kenya, Fiji, Jersey, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Dominica and Botswana. Thank you all!

I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty of fabulous stuff (I'd say my memory isn't what it used to be, but it's always been pretty bad). I hope you all had a good 2010 and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!