Basil Sun Dried Tomato Tortellini with Charred Tomatoes and Asparagus
Five cheese tortellini with charred garlic and chili tomatoes, asparagus and fresh basil, coated with sun dried tomato pesto with basil!
Sometimes all you need is just a bowl of pasta with some veggie and spicy kick to it! Tortellinis are favorites in my household. I like to make it with basil pesto, sun-dried tomatoes and asparagus. But this time I wanted to try something different. Instead of using regular basil pesto, I wanted to use sun dried tomatoes with basil pesto. Sun dried tomatoes pesto with basil adds lots of good flavor to this dish, its tangy, spicy and cheesy!! What else do you want in a meal?!?!
I sautéed some sliced garlic with red crush peppers and charred tomatoes in it. Then added boiled tortellini to it and made it crispy making sure there is no extra liquid to it. The tortellini tastes so good when it is crisped up with garlicky chili oil. To add some fiber, I added asparagus to it and at the end I coated everything with sun dried tomatoes with basil pesto and fresh basil. Some extra freshly shredded parmigiano reggiano to garnish with and you have a very flavorful dish ready!
My family likes it very much, hope yours does too!
Happy and Healthy Eating!
Basil Sun Dried Tomato Tortellini with Charred Tomatoes and Asparagus
Ingredients
- 2 lb Asparagus
- 2 lb Gourmet Cherry Tomato Medley regular cherry tomatoes would work just fine!
- 1.5 lb Five Cheese Tortellini
- ½ cup Sun Dried Tomato Pesto with Basil
- 1 tsp Crushed Red Peppers
- 3 cloves Garlic sliced
- 0.5 oz Fresh Basil Leaves
- 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Salt or as per taste
Instructions
Prepare Asparagus
- Rinse asparagus under cool water. Dry the spears by rolling them between two kitchen towels.
- Snap off the bottom inch or more using your fingers. The stems will naturally break where the tough woody part ends and the tender stem begins. Cut each of them into couple inches pieces.
- Really thick asparagus can sometimes develop a tough outer skin. It’s not necessary, but you can peel this coating away with a vegetable peeler.
- Boil water with 1 tsp of salt. Once the water is boiling, add cut asparagus to it and let it cook for just a minute or so.
- Drain the hot water out and give it a cold water rinse.
- Strain all the water out and keep it aside.
Prepare Tortellini
- Prepare tortellini as per package instructions and keep it aside.
- I like to keep mine al dente.
Put it all together
- Heat 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a large pan.
- Sauté sliced garlic until golden brown.
- Add 1 tsp of crushed red peppers to the garlic and sauté couple a minute.
- Add cherry tomatoes to the pan and char them on high heat until they start to become soft and have dark charred spots on them.
- Once the tomatoes are charred, add boiled tortellinis to the pan.
- Keep cooking them on high flame to see tortellinis crisp up.
- Once the tortellinis start to become crispy, add boiled asparagus to the pan and mix it well. Turn the stove off.
- Add sun dried tomato pesto, chopped fresh basil and salt. Mix it very well.
- Garnish it with some shredded parmigiano reggiano (optional) and serve it hot!