TORTELLINI

Homemade food tastes better to me.

Some folks may disagree, and I totally respect that.

They're wrong, of course, but who the heck am I to say that they don't like what they like? Y'know?

Personally, if I'm having pasta, I can hang out with dried storebought stuff......BUT, if I'm really trying to do it like I mean it? The sauce is from scratch. And if I'm into it for something even MORE rewarding? It's got to be homemade pasta, with filling, and homemade sauce/soup/stuff.

That's my personal path to feeling full and fulfilled, for sure.

So, when I can't sleep and I can't believe I've just been taking it easy on the cooking for days and days, I gotta get into some kitchen wizardry. And that took me to tortellini town:

WHOA!

semi-semolina and '00' flour pasta, rolled out and stuffed and dried a little and boiled a lot and dunked into some custom broth and devoured all in a row.

Did I eat forty-something little tortellini? I did. And did I make the remainder when I got home from work? I did.

...Wait. That's right. It was only 9 am and y'boi was spooning molto fresh pasta into his face before a brisk dog walk through the woodsly goodness. That's how I do it.

As usual, I took almost zero in-progress photos.

That means none of me rolling pasta. None of me pinching pouches into the traditional dumpling shape, and just one of the filling in it's almost-finished form:

YEP.

Onion, garlic, sweet potato, roasted sweet red pepper, all sauteed in olive oil. Then a punch of nutritional yeast, a shake or two of Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, and salt. A splash of white wine vinegar, a lot of black pepper, and a dash of tamari to activate a little umami-

All of that, and a few spoonfuls of hot water to steam-soften the starchy potato.

For years I made all the recipes, and I doubt anyone ever made even a single one.

Now, I have even BETTER recipes, and I dunno if I should even write 'em down.

*

The broth was made from 2 caramelized shallots, and three cloves of roasted garlic, plus three cups of vegan broth, and a scoop of roasted garlic base bouillon, with fire roasted tomato flakes and black pepper all brought to a boil and simmered for twenty minutes.

I wilted a handful of spinach in there, too, to make it look and taste better.

Then I fried up some sweet baby grape tomatoes in a pan, tossed them in, too, and covered the whole thing with chopped parsley and crushed red pepper.

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If I were to make this again, and I will, I'll probably also add cannellini beans to the soup.

Extra heartiness is always welcome.

Sorta recipes and pretty food.

That's just what it is around here.