Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, add your tortellini (I use cheese tortellini, feel free to substitute other tortellini types), and cook to al dente. I use the store-bought tortellini from the refrigerator section. If you have the time, a pasta maker, and a highly refined palate, by all means make it from scratch. When the tortellini is done, reserve 2 cups of the cooking liquid, drain, and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of olive oil in a very large frying pan over medium high heat. Add 1 to 2 pounds of exotic mushrooms, sliced, like shitake, cremini, oyster, baby bella, etc. (These may not be that exotic to you, go wild with your mushroom choices. Maybe don’t add magic mushrooms.) There is no shame in buying two bags of sliced fancy mushrooms at your grocery store and throwing them straight in the pan. Sauté until brown.
Add a 1 to 2 nice clean leeks, from the white through the light green area, thinly sliced. Sauté until soft. Salt and pepper to taste.
Add the tortellini to your frying pan (this is why you need a very large pan). Mix in 8 oz Mascarpone or Crème Fraîche and add the reserved pasta water until the sauce is smooth and light (you may not need it all). Not too thick, not too wet, just right. Toss it with 1/2 to 1 cup of finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
Add 10 to 16 ounces baby spinach. Again, the bag spinach from your supermarket is fine, but if you grow your own or have a farmer’s market, use that. Let the spinach slightly wilt, and plate or put into your serving bowl. Top with a bit more Parmigiano-Reggiano to serve.
And of course, you would not be amiss if you added in cherry tomatoes, capers, diced roasted eggplant, or roasted garlic at the same time you add the spinach.
Start to finish time? Maybe 20 minutes on a slow day, if you have to grate your Parm-Reg from a block.
Oh, hell yes, I’m doing this.
Yippee – you will have to let me know how you like it. Fast and fancy if presented right…because nobody feels like cooking after a long day.
Rude to post when I haven’t had lunch yet!!
Looks amazing!
Thank you, Meg!
This looks delicious. I love mushrooms. Do you think ricotta would work instead of mascarpone?
I do not, Hannibal. The light, silky texture of the mascarpone is key… I think it would be too thick?
Ricotta can be grainy, so I’m sure you’re right.
Oh yum! This will be going to the top of the rotation for Meatless Fridays. Cheese tortellini is the unsung hero of the Italo-American diet.
I hope that you and the gatherer-in-chief enjoy it!
Well worth it. This was added to the “Let’s make this again” list.
oooo this will be a good one for next week when the missus is back and ill be switching back to a largely vegetarian diet
itll make a nice change from my usual tortelini dish (cheesy tortelini with pesto runner beans and smoked salmon)
Ohhh – that sounds delish, Farscythe!
it is
but its hardly cooking tho…its one of the laziest dishes i know (and as such one of my favourites)
ill add it to the pile of things i need to draft up
Wow, that sounds/looks great. Thank you.