One of the first cooking blogs that I ever started reading was Stephanie Cooks. Stephanie’s tastes are very similar to my own and I really like her down-to-earth, simple writing style. Her recipes are easy to follow and really user-friendly, too. And, I can’t help but love that she’s also a teacher! 🙂
I too am not the biggest fan of cream sauces, – I feel that they can become extremely ‘heavy’ and almost a little to decadent. The opposite goes for my husband – he loves them and will be the first to admit that I do not cook with them enough! I decided to trust Stephanie’s judgement on the consistency and flavor of this sauce; since I love lemon 24/7, I figured this would be a good compromise for dinner.
Lemon Parmesan Tortellini
adapted from Stephanie Cooks
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup broth
- 1 cup light cream
- 1 lemon, juiced and zested
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 pound tortellini
- 1 cup frozen peas
- Heat up a pot of hot water to boil.
- In a skillet over medium heat, heat up the olive oil. Add the garlic and saute for about 30 seconds.
- Add the broth and turn up the heat to high. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add the cream, lemon juice and zest, and Italian seasoning. Reduce the heat to medium and let simmer for 10 minutes.
- Once you’ve got your sauce going and the water is boiling, cook the tortellini (according to the package directions).
- After about 10 minutes, add the parmesan cheese to the sauce and stir to combine, allowing the cheese to melt. Add the peas, stirring constantly so that they begin to thaw. Add the tortellini to the sauce as they finish cooking. Toss and serve.
As you can see, I added peas to the original recipe to get a vegetable into the main dish. You can definitely leave these out if you wish! This dish was filling and decadent, without being too heavy, as some cream sauces tend to do. The lemon in the cream sauce takes it to the next level and makes this meal really shine on a cold winter’s night. It also came together fairly quickly, which you know I never complain about 🙂
If you’ve been an avid fan of my cooking, I definitely recommend you head on over to Stephanie Cooks! You won’t be disappointed.
The Spicy Simmer 