Penne with Rosemary Cream Sauce

Another recipe from Intercourses. Penne with Rosemary Cream Sauce. Yes. It was good. No. I won't make it again -- not without some major rewriting. It was easy. That was a definite plus. It was filling and satisfying. But it could have been so much more.

This stage where I'm sauteing the rosemary in the olive oil was my favorite. I should have followed my gut instincts. It was fragrant and earthy. It filled the kitchen with a comforting aroma.

But then,

The tomato paste/puree. Too much. Too overpowering. Too tomato-ey.

I ended up adding more cream to the sauce to try to thin it out so that the sauce wouldn't have a paste consistency. I didn't have enough cream.

It plated well. In case you're wondering, that "thing" next to the pasta was chicken feta and spinach sausage grilled in the grill pan.

A and J liked it. J more so than A. Hubby said he liked it - going for two heaping servings. For me, the tomato was just too much. It overpowered the rosemary. It wasn't creamy enough. It coated the pasta too thickly. What I should have done was, if I were to put tomatoes in it at all, I would add some petite cut tomatoes at the last phase, just to add a little bite to the sauce. I would have focused more on rosemary by adding some minced garlic and whisking in some butter into the hot oil. Perhaps not even adding the cream. Making more of an olio e aglio sauce. Maybe just cut in some rosemary towards the end, instead of infusing the olive oil in the beginning.

Any aphrodisiac qualities? Again, no. I will not give up trying, though.