Sauces made from scratch make a meal so homey and yummy it doesn’t even matter that you used store-bought tortellini for this dish. Lemon Basil Tortellini & Sausage is going to be on your weekly menu rotation, I just know it!
The light bright flavor of the lemon in this pasta dish is so yummy. Making sauces from scratch is so scary for some – but really it’s not that hard at all. You start with a simple roux of butter and flour. Add some chicken stock, and flavoring and you have a gorgeous silky sauce. Patience is key – it will look awful until the last moment when you produce this beautifully perfect sauce. I do have to say that having my trusty pasta bowls is what makes this dish so pretty – they have just enough spread to make the dish gorgeous without spreading out all over the plate!
It is very important that you make practice good knife skills and get your sauces and bell peppers roughly the same size. This allows them to cook at the same rate so that the pepper still have a bit of bite before the sausage dries out. I have spent hours working on my knife skills because it really does matter. You want to get things cut in a uniform size ever time to ensure that it cooks the same throughout. If you have a huge piece here and a tiny piece there someone is going to each an under cooked piece and someone else is going to eat an overcooked piece.
Yes! It’s okay to use Store-bought!
I usually use store bought frozen or refrigerated pastas – tortellini or ravioli – when it has been a long day – or I know it’s going to be a long day. A lot of people actually keep a package of it handy for last minute meal change. While meal planning is an absolute must and something I do every week, some days just get away from you and you need a Plan B. This dish is the perfect go-to back-up plan for those sorts of day.
Lemon Basil Tortellini & Sausage
Ingredients
- 2 lb Cheese Tortellini frozen or refrigerated
- 2 lb Chicken Sausage diced
- 1 Red Bell Pepper diced
- 1 Green Bell Pepper diced
- ½ Red Onion diced
- 2 tbsp Avocado Oil
- 1 tsp Basil
For Lemon Basil Sauce
- 4 tbsp Butter
- 4 tbsp Flour AP or Wheat
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 2 cups Chicken Bone Broth
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Basil
- ½ cup Parmesan Cheese shredded, plus more for garnish
- 1 tbsp Parlsey for garnish
Instructions
- Prepare all of the ingredients. Start water boiling for tortellini
- In a large saute pan over medium high heat, add oil and onions. Cook for 3 minutes then add basil, sausage and bell peppers. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then reduce heat to medium low and keep warm.
- In a sauce pan over medium high heat, add butter and garlic powder. Let melt then add flour and whisk into paste. Cook for 2 minutes then whisk in chicken broth. Cook for 2 minutes then add lemon and basil. Let cook another 3 minutes and then add in cheese. Whisk until melted.
- Add tortellini to water and cook as directed on package. Add lemon basil sauce to sausage and peppers and let simmer for cook time of the tortellini. Drain tortellini into colander.
- In a pasta bowl, place a portion of tortellini in center. Ladle sauce & sausage mix over top and garnish with Parmesan cheese and parsley.
Estelle Forrest self-published this cookbook after a lot of playing around in the kitchen. You can purchase your own copy here:
AVAILABLE IN PRINT OR KINDLE eBOOK VERSIONS
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This dish looks really delicious! Pinning to my Yummy board!
Love this- I’ll be featuring it when the next party starts on my blog, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, thanks for sharing with us at the To Grandma’s house we go link party! (PS – do you happen to have a Instagram?)
Yep, I’m on Instagram @HomemadeonaWeeknight Thank you so much for featuring this recipe. It is a new fave in my house!
You can’t go wrong with pasta and this recipe looks very tasty.
Your work gives immensely positive energy!! Good Job
This sounds absolutely delicious! I’m definitely going to try this out in my own kitchen.