Cheese Tortellini With Shrimp In Tomato Cream Sauce

Category: Main Dishes | Blog URL: http://gourmetmealsforless.typepad.com/blog/2010/01/tortellini-and-shrimp-cream-sauce.html

This recipe was entered in The Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook contest, a compilation of the world’s best food blogs which was published in Fall 2010.

Photo: Heather Patterson

Ingredients

1 bag frozen cheese tortellini

1/2 pound large fresh or frozen shrimp (thawed, peeled and tails removed)

14 ounces can Italian diced tomatoes, do not drain

4 teaspoons of fresh or dried thyme

2 large garlic cloves, minced

4 Tbs. olive oil

1 chicken bullion cube, crushed

2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley

1 1/2 cups heavy cream or half and half (both are equally good)

4 Tbs. freshly-grated Parmesan cheese

Freshly-grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

Salt and freshly grounded pepper to taste

Preparation

Thaw frozen shrimp according to package directions if using frozen, and then peel, devein and rinse shrimp in a colander.

While shrimp are draining, fill a medium size saucepan with cold water and cook tortellini according to package directions. Do NOT overcook your tortellini, no more than 2-3 mins once tortellini are added to boiling water.

Drain pasta and set aside.

Using the same saucepan combine diced tomatoes, crushed bullion, parsley and thyme and bring to a low simmer.

While tomatoes are simmering bring a large skillet to medium heat and add olive oil. Heat olive oil and add minced garlic, cooking just until slightly opaque (approx. 1 min). Add garlic and olive oil to tomatoes, stir. Taking a fork crush tomatoes, breaking up the pieces until you have a chunky sauce.

Add cream to skillet that you used for garlic and bring to a low simmer. Add tomato sauce, Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste to cream and bring to slow simmer

Add cream to skillet that you used for garlic and bring to a slow simmer.

Add tomato sauce, Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste to cream and bring back up to a slow simmer.

Reduce heat on cream sauce to low to keep warm and continue to stir occasionally.

At this point you can butterfly your shrimp, which helps to make the amount of shrimp seem more substantial, but this is not a necessary step.

To butterfly your shrimp, place on cutting board and with a very sharp knife, open up shrimp along the back but not cutting all the way through.

Add shrimp to cream sauce and cover, allowing shrimp to cook for approximately 4-5 minutes.

Add tortellini to pan coating with cream sauce and seasoning if necessary with additional salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Plate and top with a sprinkle of shredded parmesan cheese.

Tools

Comments

Permalink Carol Reddin
February 23, 2010

It's delicious!

Permalink Kim
February 24, 2010

A favorite in our house! Delicious!

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About

Is there anything better than pasta or shrimp? How about them together... love pasta and I love shrimp and I just happened to have both of these on hand last night, so I decided what better than to combine these two loves and throw them in a rich creamy tomato sauce. Well let's just say the results were fabulous! Hubby even told me to tell you all it's his all time favorite yet, so I'll take that as a favorable review. Now I'm going to share this new recipe with you:

See that picture up there? Well I had a very hard time not stealing that shrimp right off the plate while I was taking this picture. That little crustacean was calling my name saying "eat me, eat me!" This dish is that good! In fact had a dear friend test it out for me and she wanted to know if I had slipped some secret ingredient in to it, because it was so addictive. While you are eating this I want you to close your eyes and picture yourself sitting at a little bistro table at your favorite Italian restaurant, but guess what you can eat it at your own table at under $10.00 for a family of four. Try eating out for that!