Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

I knew just the cure for days of no sun and lack of color-a trip to the Como Park Conservatory for their annual Poinsettia Floral Display. It's always an uplifting experience and a bonus it's warm inside. 

_______________________________________________________

Cook's notes: I've been following a new food blog lately damndelicious.net 
In the food blogger's words... this is the easiest pasta dish ever, and you can add in your favorite meats and/or veggies – the possibilities are endless caught my attention when reading her recipe for Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce. 
I was able to complete the dish in under 25 minutes as suggested in the recipe. What an amazing creamy tomato pasta sauce. The recipe makes 3 generous or 4 smaller servings. It was soooooooo good I remade it the next night since there were no leftovers from the night before! The recipe can easily be doubled. Slices of chicken can be substituted for the sausage.
I did tweak her recipe a bit by adding in spices and onions.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 cups dried penne
• 1 cup cooked and crumbled Italian Sausage or Smoked Andouille Chicken Sausage 
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup diced sweet onions

Cream Sauce

• 2 TB. butter
• 2 TB. flour 
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup julienned sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained and patted dry with a paper towel. This product can be found in produce. 
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 tsp. each dried oregano and basil
• 1 TB parsley flakes
• dash red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper to taste
• optional 2 TB. dry white wine

Directions:

• Bring a pan of salted water to a boil, add in dried penne. Cook until al dente, drain and rinse.
• In  large skillet heat 1 TB. olive oil, saute onion and garlic about 2 minutes on medium low heat. Stir frequently so it doesn't overbrown.  
• Add in 2 TB. butter, melt and add in 2 TB. flour. Whisk to blend and cook 1 minute.
• Whisk in chicken broth and continue whisking until broth is incorporated with flour mixture about 1-2 minutes. 
• Stir in cream, meat, pasta, spices, sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan. Whisk to blend and cook until thickened about 2 minutes.  Stir in wine. 
• Serve immediately and grate Parmesan over top of the dish.