New Recipe: PW's Tortellini Primavera

I saw this recipe on the Pioneer Woman's site last week and it immediately went on my menu for the week. Then I ran out of steam toward the end of the week...so I made it this week. I thought the combination of pasta and fresh veggies would be a tasty spring meal and it was! Even Grant ate it.

Tortellini Primavera

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 whole medium onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 whole carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 cup cauliflower, broken or cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• salt & pepper, to taste
• 8 whole basil leaves, chopped
• 3/4 cup cooked ham, diced
• 1 cup frozen peas
• Extra Parmesan & basil for serving
• 1 pound cheese (or spinach) tortellini

Directions:

1. Cook tortellini a couple of minutes less than package directions call for. Drain and set aside.
2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and stir to cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the carrots and cauliflower, stir, cook for 1 minute.
4. Add the wine and broth, then cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the liquid reduced some.
5. Add in cream and Parmesan cheese, stir. 
6. When mixture is hot, add the peas, ham, salt, and pepper. Allow them to heat up in the sauce. When the sauce is hot, stir in the cooked tortellini.
7. Taste test your seasonings and add more if necessary. Serve with extra Parmesan and basil, if desired.

Recipe Source: The very awesome Pioneer Woman

Notes/Suggestions:

• The above recipe is PW's original recipe. I didn't use wine or basil. We don't keep wine of any sort around this house so I substituted more chicken broth in place of the wine. I thought it tasted fantastic. And I just don't like basil but if you do, I bet its very tasty on this dish. But if you're like me and you don't like it, your dinner will not be ruined by the absence of basil.
• I highly recommend checking out the recipe on PW's site. Not only are there, as usual, step-by-step pictures but also a list of things she recommends as add-ins for this dish. I added 3-4 ounces of cream cheese since she suggested it (which I added at the same time as the cream and Parmesan). It was great!
• Next time I'll thaw my peas. I was leery of the peas anyway because...well, they're peas. However, this pea hater ate every pea on her plate because they were so yummy in this dish...just a bit too crunchy. Your cauliflower & carrots may be crunchy too but I'm good with that.
• Ham! Oh how I love ham. I used pre-diced ham since this was going to be a weeknight meal and I wanted to cut down on prep. I chose the smaller diced pieces but they ended up sort of disappearing into the dish. Next time, I'd go with larger pieces or just buy ham steaks and chop them myself.

I've never made a PW recipe that I didn't like or that turned out bad. Check out her stuff, she's awesome! 

ENJOY!