Thursday, February 14, 2008

Tortellini with Arugula and Sundried Tomatoes


Really, it took five minutes to make this dish. You have time to make this dish. It was awesome and healthy and easy. I took about 1/4 of an onion (I used a quarter of it because it was one of those big honkin probably genetically modified enormous onions) diced it and then sauteed it in a little olive oil, to this I added about 1/3 of a jar of sundried tomatoes in oil chopped. As the onion and tomatoes were getting all happy in the olive oil I put the tortellini in a pot of boiling water and cooked them for five minutes. When they were done cooking I added a little of the pasta water along with the tortellini to the onion and sundried tomatoes. I turned the tortellini enough to coat them in the sauce, and then added about half a package of organic arugula and left it on the burner long enough for the arugula to wilt down, but no more than that. I seasoned with salt and pepper and served with freshly grated Parmesan. So simple people.

Also, if you give a rats ass about Valentine's Day (which I don't, I think it's a simply vile holiday) then this is the perfect meal to make tonight. Why? Because apparantely the tortellini is the pasta of love according to these Wikipedia legends:

One says that this dish is born in Castelfranco Emilia. One night during a trip, Lucrezia Borgia checked into an inn in the small town. Over the course of the night the host became so captivated by Lucrezia's beauty that he couldn't resist the urge to peek into her room through the keyhole. The bedroom was only lit by a few candles, and so he could merely see her navel. This pure and innocent vision was enough to send him into an ecstasy that inspired him to create the tortellini that night.

Another separate but similar legend, originating in medieval Italy, tells how
Venus and Jupiter (the Roman equivalent to the Greek gods Aphrodite and Zeus) arrived at a tavern on the outskirts of Bologna one night, weary from their involvement in a battle between Modena and Bologna. After much food and drink, they shared a room. The innkeeper, captivated by the two, followed them and peeked through the keyhole. All he could see was Venus's navel. Spellbound, he rushed to the kitchen and created tortellini in its image.

So see, its the pasta of love and lust, and peeping through key holes, and this recipe is so simple and fast that it leaves plenty of time to hop on the good foot and do the bad thing all night long. So get to it.

Rating = So Damn Good

3 comments:

Patricia Scarpin said...

Ha, I like that story, JB! The cook was a smart guy. ;)

I love adding arugula to warm dishes, like pasta and risotto. Yummy!

Sarah said...

This looks delicious! I love tortellini...must be all that love wrapped up inside! :)

Anonymous said...

Delicious. I've prepared it twice and will be cooking it again as soon as my Arugula in the garden grows some more. I like onion so I used 1/2 a large onion and that worked fine.