The toasty pine nuts add a hint of nutty flavor to the pasta. It's a surprising touch, but it brings the whole dish together.  The combination of "sun-dried" tomatoes, fresh spinach and basil, Italian sausage, and tangy feta cheese is absolutely delightful. Instead of sticking to making pasta with a sauce, I left the ingredients whole to simplify the dish and add bursts of flavor. Trust me, this farfalle recipe is a hit!

Pine Nut Farfalle
Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients 
8 ounces farfalle pasta
3/4 cup cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh basil; roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves; minced
1/4 cup pine nuts
6 ounces fresh spinach
2 Italian sausages
2 ounces feta cheese
Salt and pepper; to taste
Olive oil; for cooking
Parmesan cheese; serving

Instructions 

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the farfalle pasta according to the directions on the box.
3. Place pine nuts in a skillet and heat over low-medium heat. Toss and shake the pan until the pine nuts are toasty and golden in color, which roughly takes 5 minutes. Set pine nuts aside for later use. 
4. While the pasta is cooking, let's make the "sun-dried tomatoes" cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Lightly drizzle some olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper to the cherry tomatoes. Toss the cherry tomatoes in the olive oil, salt, and pepper and evenly lay it out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. 
5. Place the baking sheet of cherry tomatoes into the preheated oven. Let the cherry tomatoes bake until dry. Depending on how big the tomatoes are, the longer the cooking time is. For my cherry tomatoes, it took roughly 10 minutes. Make sure to keep a watchful eye on the tomatoes. There's a fine line between dried and burnt! 
6. For the Italian sausages, I use a two-part cooking method. Place the sausages in boiling water until it is cooked thoroughly. Remove cooked sausages from boiling water after 10 minutes. Then, slice the cooked sausage into smaller pieces. 
7. Lightly coat a non-stick pan with olive oil. Heat the pan on medium-high heat until it is hot. Place minced garlic into the pan and cook until it's golden and fragrant. Put the cooked sausage into the pan and let the sausage brown. 
8. Remove the pan from the heat. 
9. Add the farfalle pasta in the pan with the sausages. Toss the hot farfalle and sausage with the fresh spinach and basil. The residual heat from the farfalle and sausage will wilt the spinach and basil without having to cook it. 
10. Add the "sun-dried" tomatoes, feta cheese, and pine nuts into the pasta and toss until it is well combined. Sprinkle salt and freshly cracked black pepper to the pasta to taste. 
11. For garnish, add some shaved parmesan cheese and fresh basil. Serve and enjoy!