tortellini

This week's impulse idea was tortellini.  After our forays into potstickers, I realized we could probably manage these.

The filling was a cheese and spinach mix:  some of last season's frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of as much juice as possible, and chopped fine.  A few kinds of cheese:  ricotta, parmesan, provolone.  Salt and pepper.  I just did this by eye and to taste.


We rolled the sheets to the thinnest setting.  Most recipes I found called for cutting into 2-inch rounds, though Bittman just used squares and I can see how there would be less waste that way.  They might not turn out quite as cute, however.

Brush the edges with egg white, put a dab of filling in the middle, and fold into crescents, pushing the filling out a bit and removing any airspace.

 Wrap the corners of the crescent around your finger, and seal the overlap with a little more egg white if necessary.

Boil vigorously for 3-5 minutes or until tender.  Best to sample one a few minutes in to be sure not to overcook.  Serve with your favorite sauce--this was summertime roasted tomato sauce flavored simply with a scoop of frozen pesto and some oregano. 

I can see making a ton of these for the freezer, but last night was a run-through: we made just enough for (a rather large) meal.  Out of the freezer with some defrosted sauce would make a super fast dinner, and they would be great for pasta salads in the summertime too.