Cheese tortellini tossed in pesto with asparagus, and baby greens, it is as delicious as it is beautiful, and it is as beautiful as it is easy to make. The tortellini and the asparagus cook together in the boiling water, the tortellini only needs 4-5 minutes to boil, which is the perfect amount of time for cooking asparagus. I put the spinach and pesto in a metal bowl and place it directly over the pot of boiling water, this slightly wilts the spinach and gently warms the pesto. Our Pesto Tortellini couldn’t get much easier.
With store-bought pesto and tortellini, this is a super quick and easy weeknight meal, the most time-consuming part is boiling the water, the actual hands-on work is less than 10 minutes, well maybe 15 minutes if you’re talking and sharing a bottle of wine!
Here is how I make my quick weeknight Pesto Tortellini:
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 8 Ounce Package Tortellini
- 1 6 Ounce Jar Pesto
- 5 Ounces Fresh Spinach, Roughly Chopped
- 1 Bundle Asparagus, Large Dice
- ½ Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
- ¼ Cup Olive Oil
- Salt
- Parmesan Cheese to Garnish
PROCESS:
-Bring a pot of water to boil, add salt (it should taste like the ocean)
-Check the cooking instructions for the tortellini, thin asparagus only needs 4-5 minutes or 6-7 minutes for thick asparagus. So, either your asparagus goes in first or your tortellini goes in first, you’ll have to do some math here to figure out the correct timing
-Add the spinach, pesto, red pepper flakes to a large metal bowl, set the bowl over the pot of boiling water to heat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally to wilt the spinach
-Add the olive oil to the pesto container cover and shake to get all the pesto out, add to the spinach/pesto bowl
-Drain the tortellini and add to the spinach/pesto, toss gently to combine
-Serve and garnish with Parmesan cheese.
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