Family Chow Hall

Tortellini with Pesto

November 28th, 2006

Today’s post doesn’t really include a recipe so much as just something that’s going on in my kitchen today. Hey, it’s my blog and I can do this however I want to, right?

A lot of people who know me are impressed that I pack my husband’s lunch every day. I think they picture me, at 3:00 a.m., kneading bread dough for his sandwiches that day.

Not true.

But, being his devoted and loving wifey, I am interested in his health and his happiness, so on this particular morning, I am in the kitchen — not at 3 o’clock, but at six-thirty, boiling some pasta which will be in his lunch today. (For you non-morning people, I could have done this last night, but I usually get bit by the lazy bug around 8 or 9 p.m.)

The reason I am even posting about this is that his lunch today would make a nice dinner, also. Most of the food I serve my family is made in my kitchen from scratch. In other words, if I want to serve chili, I buy the ingredients for chili and make it, I don’t buy a can of chili and open it.

Tortellini is different. I don’t know what kind of complicated machinery is required to make tortellini and I don’t want to know. I’ll just buy it, thank you very much. There are four ways that I know of to buy tortellini:

Frozen — This is pretty good and you can add whatever kind of sauce you like.

Dried – (You can find this with the other dry pastas, like elbow macaroni) I don’t like the dried tortellini at all — it has a funny flavor.

Canned — this would be your Chef-Boy-Ardee type of tortellini/ravioli/spaghettios. I’ll pass on this, too.

Fresh — This is my favorite. Look for it near the deli section, with the extra-good cheeses and pre-packaged deli meats. It will last a long time in your refrigerator, you still have to boil it, but it has a good, fresh taste.

This morning I am boiling some fresh three-cheese tortellini. I am going to add some purchased Pesto and some roasted red peppers from the jar. Pat is going to love it. The Pesto is found right next to the tortellini. Making this probably wouldn’t be much of a trick, but there are a lot of ingredients to gather in order to do so. That might be the subject of yet another wonderful post here at FamilyChowHall.

Consider trying tortellini and pesto for a change of routine.

Have a great day!

P.S. More holiday leftovers still to come….

Entry Filed under: Italian, Recipes, Supper, Table talk, meatless