 Dress up your cheese tortellini with mushrooms, smoky bacon, and spinach. Photos courtesy McCormick.
January 2010
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Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Pasta & Pizza
Recipe: Lemon-Bay Tortellini
A Cheese Tortellini Recipe With Spinach & Wild Mushrooms
Cheese tortellini take on the aromatic essence of bay leaves through a delicately infused cooking water. Briny preserved lemon, smoky bacon and earthy mushrooms round out this flavorful main course pasta. Preserved lemons can be purchased at specialty food stores or Amazon.com, or can be made at home. Prep time for the Lemon-Bay Tortellini is 10 minutes followed by about 15 minutes of cooking time.
Preserved lemon and bay leaf are one of McCormick’s Top 10 Flavor Pairings For 2010. See all of the flavor pairings and recipes.
Learn the mystical origin of tortellini in our Pasta Glossary.
Yields 6 servings.
Lemon-Bay Tortellini With Spinach & Wild Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 1/2 preserved lemon
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 package (12 ounces) cheese tortellini
2 cups frozen leaf spinach, unthawed
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4 strips bacon
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1 medium shallot, finely chopped
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1/4 cup olive oil
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8 ounces sliced assorted mushrooms (find some you may not be familiar with in our Mushroom Glossary)
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1 teaspoon garlic, minced
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Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
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 The pungent bay leaf and lemons combine into an aromatic mix of bitter, salty-tart and bright slowly coaxed flavors.
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Preparation - Remove and discard pulp from preserved lemon. Rinse peel to remove excess salt. Coarsely chop peel (about 2 tablespoons). Set aside.
- Bring water and bay leaves to boil in large sauce pot. Stir in tortellini. Cook as directed on package, adding frozen spinach during last minute of cooking. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water. Discard bay leaves.
- Meanwhile, cook bacon in large skillet on medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels, reserving bacon drippings. Crumble bacon; set aside.
- Add shallots to bacon drippings; cook and stir 3 minutes. Add oil, mushrooms, garlic and preserved lemon peel; cook and stir 3 minutes or until mushrooms are tender.
- Stir in tortellini mixture and reserved cooking water; toss to mix well. Sprinkle with bacon.
- Serve with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.
Continue To Next Page: Preserved Lemons Recipe
Recipe © 2010 McCormick. All rights reserved. All other material
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