Creamy Italian Sausage and Tortellini

Okay, let me be the first one to point this out... this is not a very pretty dish.  It's okay, you can think that, too.  On the flip side, however, my husband boldly proclaimed "This is one of the best things you've ever made!"  He's a big fan of Italian food.

Moms out there will have a several reasons to like this recipe:  1)  It's fast - 30 min., 2)  It's super easy - brown the sausage, dump the rest together., 3)  There are some very healthy veggies hiding in there.,  4)  And it's delicious!  So if those are some criteria that you are looking for... BINGO!!  It will be perfect for the "after work - shuttle the kids to various events/practices - get out of the kitchen quickly so you can enjoy the Spring weather" type of meal.

Click for Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Italian sausage (I used mild, but it typically comes in differing degrees of heat)
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning
• 1 "family sized" container of cheese tortellini. 
• 1 bag of fresh baby spinach, stems removed and rough chopped
• 1 box (4 cups) chicken broth
• 1 (8 oz) block of reduced fat cream cheese
• 1/4 cup cold water + 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• dried basil and oregano to taste

Step-by-Step:

I have let you down, dear readers.  This was just a quick week-night meal that I was throwing together, and I wasn't really planning on using this as a blog post.  So... I wasn't photographing my way through it.  Once I saw all those beautiful colors coming together in the pot, however, I thought "Wow... this is going to be great!  Let me grab the old camera!" 

1.  Remove the sausage casings and break apart the Italian sausage as you brown it.  But don't brown it until it is dry and hard. 

2.  While the sausage is cooking, remove the stems from the spinach, and give it a rough chop.

3.  Once the sausage is no longer pink, dump everything together. 

Alternative - I have also made this using a 10 oz package of frozen chopped spinach, when fresh spinach was not available in the grocery store.  I prefer using fresh, but the frozen option worked well and is quite a bit of a time saver.
  
So here is where we pick it up:
This is the first five ingredients all dumped together.   

Browned sausage, tortellini, tomatoes, broth, spinach

Add the cream cheese. 

1 (8 oz) block of reduced fat cream cheese

Add in the cornstarch slurry.  Make sure it is dissolved in cold water first.  You don't want lumps!  After you add it, bring to a full boil, then reduce the heat... maybe to around medium.

Slurry of 1/4 cup cold water + 1 Tbsp cornstarch

You can already see how much the sauce has reduced and thickened.  Just check the "level" on the pot.  Now add the dried basil and oregano - liberally! Remember, you are seasoning an entire pot of food.

Dried oregano and basil - probably at least 1/2 tsp each.  I didn't measure. 

Once the sauce has reduced and thickened, the pasta will undoubtedly be nice and tender.  Taste, adjust seasonings, and serve!

After the sauce has reduced.

Written Method:

Brown the Italian sausage in a heavy pot.  If it came in the casings, cut them open and discard the casing.  Break the sausage up into small bite sized pieces as you brown it.  Once it's no longer pink, dump everything else in.  Add the seasoning last, so you can adjust as needed.  Give it a nice stir to distribute the cream cheese.  It's done when the tortellini are tender and the sauce has reduced and thickened, roughly about 10 - 12 minutes after dumping it all together.  That's it folks!  You can't get much simpler than that!

Want to see more awesome recipes?
Please visit my Recipe Index for more recipes.  There is sure to be something there that will suit your fancy - from all made-from-scratch, to the use of convenience items that you make your own on a busy night.




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