Family Chow Hall

Tortellini Whatever-ini

January 10th, 2011

Yep, that’s what we had for supper tonight. Tortellini with whatever I felt like throwing into it. Originally, in my mind’s eye, I was imagining spinach and other fresh vegetables, ending up with something Italian-like. What actually happened was sort of an Italy-meets-Mexico tortellini.

Digging through the fridge, I found:

Carrots
Red Pepper
zucchini
leftover cooked chicken breast
cilantro
half of a jalapeno pepper
old refried beans — oops, I tossed that, along with some old casserole that was obviously not going to get eaten
mushrooms
most of a can of diced tomatoes
Parmesan cheese, which I made my daughter grate for me

Of course, since I was planning the tortellini, I had that ready to go, and I also used a can of V-8

Here are my instructions:

Boil the tortellini as directed on the package. I buy frozen tortellini, the ready-to-go refrigerated type has a bit of a plastic-y taste that puts me off. I stay far away from canned pasta. Too mushy. So then I drain the pasta and tossed it back into the cooking pot along with some olive oil. I set this off the heat and covered to keep warm.

Meanwhile, I’d been chopping the vegetables…. carrots sliced thin, red pepper diced real small. Zucchini I split lengthwise and then slice into semi-circles. The jalapeno I minced very small, the mushrooms into bite-sized pieces. I put this all in my already-hot cast-iron skillet and sizzled away!

To the noodles, I added the diced tomatoes, minced cilantro, Parmesan cheese, and the can of V-8.

While the veggies sizzled, I cranked a liberal amount of sea salt and cracked some black pepper into the tortellini noodles. When the zucchini etc. were done, I tossed it all together and served with a side of Edamame.

Most of my family really enjoyed this creation and it definitely makes me feel like experimenting again! The lesson here is - be adventurous and it can be quite (sometimes) rewarding!!

Entry Filed under: Recipes