When people think of pasta dishes, they immediately assume it is the typical heavy-acidic tomato based or heavy cream-based sauce. Truth is, there are a ton of pasta recipes that are light and have subtle flavors with simple ingredients. This tortellini recipe consists of sautéed mushrooms, peas and chicken stock. This recipe is an easy-to-make favorite when getting home after a long day of work.

Ingredients:

(Serves 2)

1 package cheese tortellini
3/4 cup crimini mushrooms chopped
1/3 cup frozen peas
1 cup chicken stock (optional)
1 garlic clove minced
1 shallot minced
1 strip bacon / pancetta chopped (optional)
2 – 3 tablespoons of good olive oil

Preparations:

- Pour olive oil into a large pan. Add shallots and garlic. Sauté till translucent then remove.

- Sauté the mushrooms over medium high heat in the olive oil. Season them with salt and pepper until well cooked through — about 10 minutes.

- Once cooked, remove the mushrooms and add the bacon/pancetta to the pan. (Skip this step if you’re vegetarian) Sauté it until its nice and crisp.

- Drop the pasta into boiling, salted water and stir to prevent from sticking. Cook about 5 minutes.

- Once the tortellini is in the water, add chicken stock (optional) to the mushrooms; bring to a boil and reduce by half while the tortellini cooks

- Drain the tortellini and add it to the mushrooms. Add the frozen peas and cook everything over high heat. Continue to season with salt and pepper.

- Cook for a few minutes, tossing every 30 seconds or so. if the tortellini looks dry add more stock to the sauce.

- Turn the heat off, and garnish with Parmesan cheese and parsley.

- Serve the tortellini with a bit more Parmesan cheese, a drizzle of olive oil and freshly cracked pepper if desired.

EXTRA TIP:  Marco Porello ‘Mommiano’ Barbera d’Alba, Piedmont, Italy - $18.00 (Average price)


Wine Pairing: With Italian style foods, we love Italian style wines. There are so many white varietals that would go well with this dish, but that’s just not what we’re craving. We like reds! A nice Barbara style would be our pick with its low amount of tannins and good acid. This makes it a nice pairing wine and will go easy with the flavors of the tortellini.