Quick Meal Idea-Tortelloni with Bacon, Garlic & Sage Butter

 It was one of those days. Rushing round like a headless chicken and only realising at dinner time that I had failed to plan ahead and almost everything I might have served was still firmly frozen or still on the shelves in the supermarket.

Luckily I have a store of basics like rice, pasta and soup and sticking my head in the cupboard I spotted packets of dried tortelloni pasta stuffed with proscuttio and mortadella ham. Aha! 

Previously I've served these with a ready made sauce, usually carbonara but I didn't even have one of these stashed. Cue a quick google for ideas and I found a number of butter-based sauces designed to team with tortelloni. Inspired I knocked up my own version which proved a big hit. 

Almost Interesting Fact

Wondering what the difference is between tortellini and tortelloni? Tortellini is smaller and designed to be served in soup. Tortelloni is larger and usually served like a regular pasta dish with a sauce. Interestingly Italians. Oddly tortellini is traditionally stuffed with meat and tortelloni with cheese but mine were definitely the larger tortelloni but meat-filled.

Back to my dinner.

People. This is one of the quickest meals you can make. I mean I'm talking almost Pot Noodle fast. It's cheap too with packs of dried stuffed pasta generally selling for between £1-£2.

Recipe

Bring a pan of water with a pinch of salt added to the boil. Add tortelloni (or tortellini) and set a timer for the length of time recommended on the pack, usually 6-8 minutes. You do NOT want to overcook these delicate little curls or you will end up with mush.

While the pasta is cooking melt around 2oz, 55 grams of butter per pack of tortelloni and add 1-2 chopped garlic cloves, chopped fresh or dried sage and 1 small pack of bacon lardons. 

Cook gently so you don't burn the butter but ensure the bacon is cooked through.

Drain the pasta well and toss in the butter mix. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Voila! Or since this is an Italian dish maybe I should say Ecco!

Vegetarian Version

Choose a non-meat stuffing like spinach and ricotta and omit the bacon. You could use a non-dairy "butter" but I personally think that might be detrimental to the flavour.