During a cold winter arctic blast there is nothing better than a piping hot dish of baked pasta.  While watching Everyday Italian the other day, Giada made Cheesy Baked Tortellini and since I had company, I needed to get dinner on the table fast.  Thankfully, most of the ingredients were already in my pantry so I only had to go track down the smoked mozzarella.  This dish was perfect.  The flavors of the roasted chicken tortellini that I selected went well with the smoked mozzarella and fresh marscapone from Claudio’s in the Italian Market (ahhh – love that place!).  This is one of those recipes that will make you want to curl up on the couch and say “Ahhhhhh”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cheesy Baked Tortellini

Recipe courtesy of Giada de Laurentiis

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 2 cups marinara sauce
• 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1 pound purchased cheese tortellini  (I used a roasted chicken tortellini I had on hand)
• 2 ounces thinly sliced smoked mozzarella ( I wound up using 4 oz – much cheesier and made up for the non-cheese tortellini, right?)
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Lightly oil an 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish.
3. Whisk the sauce, mascarpone cheese, parsley and thyme in a large bowl to blend.
4. Cook the tortellini in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 2 minutes. Drain.
5. Add the tortellini to the sauce and toss to coat.
6. Transfer the tortellini mixture to the prepared baking dish.
7. Top the mixture with the smoked mozzarella and Parmesan.
8. Cover and bake until the sauce bubbles and the cheeses on top melt, about 30 minutes.
9. Enjoy – but let cool or you’ll burn the roof of your mouth off – not that I speak from experience *ahem*.

Tweet This Post