After a quick browse through recent postings, I've realized that it's been months since I posted any entries from my meager kitchen. Here's a quick and easy method to put pasta on the table when you're short on time.

Firstly, when it comes to quick meals, it really helps to have purveyor of fresh pasta in walking distance. Of course, I am referring to the Wellington Village's very own Parma Ravioli.

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Secondly, and I can't stress this enough, a well stocked pantry is a must. If you can't cook from scratch, a pantry that is well stocked with canned and dried ingredients allows you to shorten time to plate, but preserves the quality your dishes.

Based on what I cobbled together from my fridge, pantry, and herb garden:

Ingredients

• fresh veal and lamb tortellini
• sun dried tomatoes
• garlic
• shallots
• basil

Here's what turned out:

Plated Quick Pasta Dinner
Method:

1. Blanch (briefly plunge into boiling water and remove to cold water) the sundried tomatoes as directed on the back of the package. This will soften the tomatoes enough to handle them.
2. Drain and finely chop the tomatoes
3. Cook the fresh tortellini as directed. For mine, this involved 5 minutes of simmering in salted boiling water. Since they will be further cooked in the pan with the shallots, garlic, and tomatoes, cook the pasta to super-aldente (very toothy)
4. Reserve 3-4 tbsp of pasta cooking liquid
5. Finely chop shallots and garlic
6. Add 3-4 tbsp of olive oil to a pan and gently sweat the shallots and garlic with a pinch of salt on medium heat.
7. Add the reconstituted tomatoes to the pan
8. When the oil colours red and the aromatics soften, add the pasta
9. Stir until combined and add the cooking liquid. The cooking liquid contains enough starch, that it will combine with the cooking oils and thicken to form a sauce to coat everything in the pan.
10. Stir until the pasta is coated with the tomatoes and aromatics
11. Plate and top with chiffonaded basil

Done!

BTW, it seems that I always make pasta with this method for Mademoiselle Ling every time she comes to visit. It's usually the first dish I serve when she arrives.



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