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Good grief, I have not blogged about cooking in ages. But take heart because am about to give you one of the most refined recipes for tortellinis.
I researched the word. I love researching words by the way...Tortellinis, the pasta shaped like a belly button originally referred to Venus's navel.
Now, I don't really know how accurate this bit of information is, but who cares ? Tortellinis, when viewed as Venus's belly button make all the difference.
I don't find fresh pasta that easily, and truth be told, I don't make it myself...but when Venus smiles at me, lo and behold, her belly button is right there in front of me.
So while shopping today, I found some freshly made tortellinis, filled with ricotta and spinach. I am sure that you can find those, ready made.
So here is a simple, simple, divine recipe :
For about 300 grms of tortellinis you will need the following :
- about 250 grams of ricotta cheese
- 1 fairly large size crushed garlic. (if you can't be bothered to crush garlic, please settle for a frozen tv dinner which you can shove into your microwave and stop reading my blog)
- 1 lemon, preferably organic, you'll understand why later...
- 3 branches of fresh cilantro - leaves only.
- walnuts
- salt and pepper to taste.
How to :
- put your tortellinis (pre filled with spinach and ricotta) into some boiling water, add a few drops of olive oil, and I personally add a cube of beef stock for the taste. Bring to boil once and leave to simmer until al dente or more, depending on how you like it.
Meanwhile :
- pour your ricotta cheese into a bowl
- grate the zest of a lemon into it, be generous, it must taste lemony
- add some of the fresh lemon juice until the ricotta is kind of liquid but not too much
- add your crushed garlic
- add your fresh cilantro leaves
- crush some walnuts into the mix
- add salt and pepper. I use lemon pepper to add flavor.
- mix well.
Once your tortellinis are to your liking, strain, and pour your ricotta mix on top. Serve hot.
I found this dish best served with avocado (sliced), yellow bell pepper (diced) and cherry tomatoes (sliced) salad...
Salad dressing consists of :
- apple vinegar
- olive oil (always)
- oregano
- ground cumin, salt and pepper to give extra flavor.
Venus after all, was a simple Goddess, no ?
