April is a month of birthday’s for very special ladies in my life.  My mom and my daughters, actually, my daughters were born on my mothers birthday.

This year marked a “Big” one for my mom, so I decided to throw a birthday luncheon with all of my mom’s closest friends.

I knew I wanted to make all of her favorites foods starting with her favorite pasta, creamy tomato farfalle pasta.  It’s a perfect pasta for a crowd, the recipe can be easily doubled or tripled.

Creamy Tomato Farfalle Pasta, bow tie pasta, spinach tomato tortellini,

4.8 from 6 reviews
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Creamy Tomato Farfalle Pasta
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Ingredients
  • 1 lb box of Farfalle (bow tie) Pasta
  • 2 Tablespoons salt for pasta water
  • 2 Tablespoon butter
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 Tablespoon flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • ¾ cup half and half
  • 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup spinach (packed), chopped
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh basil
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • ½ teaspoon oregano
  • 2 dashes of tabasco
  • ¼ cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus some for serving
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. In a large pot bring water to a rolling boil, add salt. Cook pasta 3 minutes less than instructions. drain and set aside (Do not rinse pasta).
  2. In a large deep skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic, and cook for 1 minute.
  3. Add flour, stirring constantly for a few minutes to cook out the flour taste.
  4. While whisking, pour in the milk and half & half. Continue whisking until all lumps are gone.
  5. Once mixture begins to lightly simmer add tomatoes, spinach, and basil.
  6. Stir in onion powder, oregano, and tabasco.
  7. Cook until spinach has wilted and sauce has thickened.
  8. Remove from heat.
  9. Stir in cheese.
  10. Salt and pepper to taste.
  11. Add the cooked pasta
Recipe was adapted from here.