Tomato Basil Rigatoni

Tomato basil is one of my very favorite flavors, so this recipe looked amazing to me.  Here it is:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes (about 3 ounces)
• 1 box (16 ounces) rigatoni pasta
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup tomato-basil- flavored cream cheese (such as Philadelphia)
• 4 ounce (4 to 6 slices) provolone cheese, chopped
• 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch of salt
• Shredded Parmesan (optional)

Directions

1. Heat a large pot of lightly salted water to boiling. Carefully scoop out 1 cup and pour over sun-dried tomatoes in a small heatproof bowl. Let stand 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, cook rigatoni as per package directions, 14 minutes. Drain.

3. While pasta cooks, heat milk over medium heat until bubbly. Remove from heat and whisk in cream cheese, provolone and mozzarella until melted (mixture will be a little stringy). Stir in cornstarch-water mixture and return pan to heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring until smooth.

4. Drain and finely chop sun-dried tomatoes. Stir into pasta, along with sauce and basil. Top with a little freshly ground black pepper, a pinch of salt, and Parmesan, if desired.

Okay, I went to FOUR different grocery stores looking for tomato-basil- flavored cream cheese, and NONE of them had it.  SO frustrating.  (They were big time grocery stores too!)  I ended up getting a thicker cheese in that flavor that is made for crackers because that's all I could find, so my recipe got a little messed up. (The sauce was super duper thick!) Still, I'm guessing it was kinda close to the real deal.

This dish was pretty good, but I also added fresh tomatoes instead of sun-dried tomatoes and didn't use FRESH basil.... combine that with not getting the right cream cheese and I'm pretty sure this probably tasted pretty different from how it was supposed to taste.  ;-)  Oops.  Still, I think I got the idea, and I liked it well enough.  However, I'd recommend it as a side dish or a lunch and not as a main dish for dinner.  

I'd also recommend not trying this unless your grocery store carries tomato-basil- flavored cream cheese.  I bet that would make it better.