Tortellini & Bruschetta

We have a family tradition of meeting at our favorite restaurant every year around Valentine's Day to eat big plates of italian food. We just attended last week and I miss the food already. Last year when we went we discovered they had removed my favorite item off of the menu; Tortellini. This was so wrong! So I set out to recreate it as best I could. The family thinks I have succeeded. Another favorite we eat while at the restaurant is Bruschetta. Let me know what you think.

Buca de Beppo Tortellini (inspired by the forenamed restaurant, my fav!)

Ingredients:
2 kinds of tortellini (cheese & meat)- I bought 1 bag of each and used ½ only.
2 ¼ cups heavy cream
5 oz fresh parmesan cheese, grated
3 TBSP Olive Oil
1/8 oz Tabasco Sauce (believe me, it makes a difference, yum)
6-10 medium button mushrooms
1-1 ½ cups chopped broccoli
1 cup frozen or fresh peas pepper/salt to taste

I know this is a pain in the you know what, but we’re using 3 pans. But they’re all going at the same time, so its all good.
Pan #1 –Make Tortellini according to the directions, do not boil longer than 5 mins. Drain.
Pan #2 –Cook veggies in olive oil, not longer than 5 mins.
Pan #3 – Boil cream (not too high!) until slightly thickened. 5 mins only. Confession: mine did not thicken until I put it together with the other ingredients, so don’t panic, just do 5 mins. Remove from heat, add salt, pepper & Tabasco sauce. Return to medium heat. Add tortellini and veggies.
Cook 3-5 mins. Removed from heat and stir in Parmesan.


Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil Recipe
(recipe found at Elise.com)

Ingredients
* 6 or 7 ripe plum tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs)
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
* 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
* 6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped.
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
* 1 baguette French bread or similar Italian bread
* 1/4 cup olive oil

1 - Prepare the tomatoes first. Parboil the tomatoes for one minute in boiling water that has just been removed from the burner. Drain. Using a sharp small knife, remove the skins of the tomatoes. (If the tomatoes are too hot, you can protect your finger tips by rubbing them with an ice cube between tomatoes.) Once the tomatoes are peeled, cut them in halves or quarters and remove the seeds and juice from their centers. Also cut out and discard the stem area. Why use plum tomatoes instead of regular tomatoes? The skins are much thicker and there are fewer seeds and less juice.

2 - Make sure there is a top rack in place in your oven. Turn on the oven to 450°F to preheat.

3 - While the oven is heating, chop up the tomatoes finely. Put tomatoes, garlic, 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, vinegar in a bowl and mix. Add the chopped basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4 - Slice the baguette on a diagonal about 1/2 inch thick slices. Coat one side of each slice with olive oil using a pastry brush. Place on a cooking sheet, olive oil side down. You will want to toast them in the top rack in your oven, so you may need to do these in batches depending on the size of your oven. Once the oven has reached 450°F, place a tray of bread slices in the oven on the top rack. Toast for 5-6 minutes, until the bread just begins to turn golden brown. Alternatively, you can toast the bread without coating it in olive oil first. Toast on a griddle for 1 minute on each side. Take a sharp knife and score each slice 3 times. Rub some garlic in the slices and drizzle half a teaspoon of olive oil on each slice. This is the more traditional method of making bruschetta.

5 - Align the bread on a serving platter, olive oil side up. Either place the tomato topping in a bowl separately with a spoon for people to serve themselves over the bread, or place some topping on each slice of bread and serve. If you top each slice with the tomatoes, do it right before serving or the bread may get soggy.

Makes 24 small slices. Serves 6-10 as an appetizer. Or 3-4 for lunch (delicious served with cottage cheese on the side.)