Chicken Tortellini with Broccoli

 

 

So we had quite the crowd at the lemonade stand the other day and we had to rush off to a T-ball game without eating a decent dinner.  So when we got home, I went for my quickest, easiest meal that I make when I'm in a time crunch.  Rather than turning to a box of Mac and Cheese, I turn to this.  It literally takes about the same amount of time and tastes a whole lot better.  Here you go!

 

Chicken Tortellini and Broccoli

• 1 20 oz. pkg of Buitoni Herb Chicken Tortellini
• 1 crown of broccoli
• 1/4 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• juice from 1/2 of a lemon
• 1/2 cup chicken broth (I prefer low sodium, you can always add salt if needed)
• fresh parmesan
• green onions (optional)

 

Chop a crown of broccoli into bite size pieces and rinse.  Put about and inch of water in the bottom of a large skillet and bring to a boil.  Once at a boil, dump in the broccoli and put the lid on.  Steam for about 1 minute and then drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.  Set aside.

Using the same pan, bring some water to a boil to cook your tortellini. Once boiling, dump in the package and boil for roughly 2 minutes or until floating.  The package says 7-9 minutes but they would be total mush. Drain the pasta and set aside. 

In this same large skillet, start sautéing about 1/4 cup chopped sundried tomatoes in about 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil.  Once they are soft, add 2-3 cloves minced garlic.  Garlic cooks very quickly, so in about 30 seconds add 1/2 cup of chicken broth before the garlic burns.  Squeeze the juice from one half of a lemon into the pan (watch for seeds) then put in your steamed broccoli.  Let that cook for a minute to flavor the broccoli, then add your tortellini.  Mix to coat tortellini and cook for a minute to heat everything back up. 

Serve in a bowl and top with fresh parmesan.  (I add green onions too, because I think everything should be topped with green onions.

There isn't a ton of sauce to put on top, most of the liquid gets soaked up so there is a ton of flavor. But if it is too dry for you, you could add a little more chicken stock.

Now I could just throw in a fattening jar of Alfredo sauce, but this feels so much lighter and tastes better in my opinion.  My kids love it (minus the sundried tomatoes, but they are easy to pick out.)

Enjoy!

 

Heidi