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Home»Dinner Recipes»This 20 minute dinner saves me on a busy weekday night
Dinner Recipes

This 20 minute dinner saves me on a busy weekday night

Bonus KitchenBy Bonus KitchenFebruary 21, 2025No Comments5 Mins Read
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Key takeout

There is no need to boil water separately. Tortellini is cooked in a frying pan. Use fresh or frozen tortellini with any kind of filling you like. The ingredients from the pasta create a creamy sauce (no cream!).

How to make quick pasta even faster? Throw away the boiling pot! This 20-minute tortellini dinner brings you more time to sit and dig in, gathering in one frying pan, with less food to wash. It is inspired by the classic Roman pasta dish Cacio E Pepe, which is made with a creamy, rich, stimulating sauce, and features just two ingredients: salty Pecorino Romano cheese and freshly ground black pepper .

Here, fresh or frozen tortellini are cooked in a frying pan and when the water is simmered, it is simmered in a shiny sauce. The soft, wilted green not only adds color, but also brings together the pasta to a true one-pan dinner. This is a pleasant and cozy meal worthy of the busiest weekday things.

Simply recipe / ciara kehoe


How to make tortellini without boiling water

It doesn’t take long to bring the tortellini to a boil, but it takes precious time to boil that big salted water. Needless to say, it means there’s extra food to clean. Cook tortellini in a frying pan and in its sauce, one of my favorite tricks to make pasta faster and less confusing to the dinner table.

This technique can be used with both fresh and frozen tortellini. I call cheese tortellini here, but any filling, such as meat, mushrooms, etc., works. The real fun is that you pan-fry a little tortellini before pouring water to cook it. This makes the pasta crisp, deep golden brown spots and edges add to the flavor and texture of the toast.

After the tortellini has acquired the colour in the spot, you pour water into the pan, cover it immediately and turn the pasta steam into al dente. You’ll want to carefully open the lid and stir it occasionally, as it will start to stick as the water evaporates. As pasta leach some of the starch into the water while cooking, stirring helps to coat the tortellini with a gorgeous sauce, now in the bread. Once cooked, everything you need to do is wrinkle, add some large handfuls of greens and stir in grated pecorino cheese to finish off the Cacio e Pepe sauce.

Simply recipe / ciara kehoe


The best green to use

Easy is the name of this frying pan dinner game, so I like to use baby kale and spinach. Both are pre-washed and wilt in just 1-2 minutes under the heat of the pasta. If you want to increase the pepper volume even more, you can also try a baby or regular arugula.

Swap and Replacement

Like I said, I like to use cheese tortellini here. Because it’s the most accessible, so I wouldn’t refuse more cheese. However, fresh or frozen tortellini with any stuffing, including sausages, spinach, ground beef, mushrooms and more.

The Pecorino Romano Cheese is the most traditional option for Cacio E Pepe. The cheese from old Roman sheep is salty, nutty and spicy, ensuring that the sauce is as bold as it is cheap. It’s pretty easy to find at most grocery stores these days, but you can replace it with the same amount of Parmesan if you want. The resulting dish is a little less lively, but it is definitely tasty.

Simply recipe / ciara kehoe


Do you love Cacio E Pepe?

Cook Mode
(Wake up the screen)

5 A large spoon olive oilsplit

2 (8-9 oz) package fresh cheese tortellini, or from 1 (16- 20–Ounce) Bag Frozen cheese tortellini

1 Small spoons Kosher salt

2 Small spoons It’s fresh Grinded black pepperand more details to provide

1 1/2 cup water

3 Ounce Baby kale Or spinach (about 3 cups)

1 cup finely Grated Pecorino Romano Cheeseand more details to provide

Bake the tortellini:

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a 12-inch cast iron skillet. Add tortellini to a uniform layer. Throw occasionally and 2-4 minutes until it’s nicely browned at the spot.

Simply recipe / ciara kehoe


Cook Tortellini:

Add water, kosher salt and black pepper. Mix with a wooden spoon and mix, then scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cover with a lid or baking sheet, cook, stir and rub the brown bits from the bottom of the pan from time to time until the pasta is soft and shiny and almost all the water has evaporated.

Simple tips!

If you use a baking sheet as a lid, handle it with a potter. It’s getting hot!

Simply recipe / ciara kehoe


Mix the greens and cheese and then serve:

Remove from the heat, stir in a handful of greens with a handful of greens, wilt, about 2 minutes. Stir in the grated cheese and the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Serve with additional grated cheese and freshly ground black pepper.

Place leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Did you like the recipe? Leave the stars below!

Simply recipe / ciara kehoe


Nutrition Facts (Each serving)

670 calories 33G fat 69g carbohydrates 26G protein

View full nutrition label

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Nutritional Facts Serving: 4 per calorie per serving 670% per day value* 33g 42% saturated fat 11g 3mg 15% potassium 206mg 4% * Daily Value (DV) will tell you how much food nutrients are, daily Contributes to the diet. General nutritional advice uses 2,000 calories per day.

Nutrition information must be calculated using a component database and considered an estimate. If multiple ingredients are given alternatives, the first listed one is calculated for nutrition. Decorations and optional ingredients are not included.

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Welcome to Bonus Kitchen where each recipe is a narrative waiting to be shared rather than just a list of ingredients. We think that food can be a language, an emotion, a means of communication, and a source of nourishment.

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