Three-Cheese Tortellini with White Beans and Vegetables
This is one of those crowd-pleasing meals that you can make anytime, anywhere — from a rental house in Maine (where it was born), to a quick Monday night dinner for the family. There's minimal chopping, and it's ready in about 20 minutes. If you like, substitute a pound of rigatoni or other short pasta for the tortellini.
Servings: 4
Calories: 630kcal
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil
- 2 medium shallots minced
- 6 cloves garlic chopped
- ½ cup (60 grams) pitted green olives, chopped
- 1 15- ounce 425-gram can navy beans, rinsed and drained
- ½ cup (120 ml) dry white wine
- 1 cup grape tomatoes about 8 ounces/(227 grams)
- 5 ounces (142 grams) baby spinach
- 18 ounces (510 grams) three-cheese tortellini
- 2 tablespoons (10 grams) grated parmesan or pecorino cheese, plus more for serving
- Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Fill a big pot halfway with water and a teaspoon of salt. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add shallot, garlic, and olives and cook, stirring frequently, for about three minutes. Aim for the shallots to be slightly translucent and garlic slightly soft, without any browning.
- Stir in wine, beans, and cherry tomatoes. Raise heat to medium-high and simmer for two to three minutes, until much of the liquid has evaporated.
- Reduce heat to medium and stir in spinach. Cook two to three minutes more, until wilted.
- Cook tortellini in boiling water according to package instructions.
- Drain tortellini and stir into to skillet along with the parmesan or pecorino. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and some salt if you like (but taste first since there are lots of salty ingredients).
- Serve with additional grated cheese.
Video
Notes
- Start with three-cheese tortellini from the refrigerator section of the grocery store. Or swap in a pound of short pasta like rigatoni or farfalle.
- Use a nice, dry white wine that you like to drink. Any style is fine. I tend to default to one of my favorite bottles of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
- My favorite olives to use in this dish are the pitted green olives with lemon and garlic that Whole Foods makes on-site. Any briny green olive that you like will work well. You can substitute capers if you like.
- Navy beans are a nice, petite, creamy variety of white beans, but you can use cannellini or any other variety of canned white beans that makes you happy.
- You can use any small variety of tomatoes. I love to use multicolored grape tomatoes to make this dish rainbow-hued.
- Parmesan and pecorino work equally well. If it's important to you that this meal is vegetarian, be sure to use a cheese made without animal rennet.
- Leftovers will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for a week.
Nutrition
Calories: 630kcal | Carbohydrates: 91g | Protein: 27.8g | Fat: 18.3g | Fiber: 14.3g