Chicken & Prosciutto Tortellini Alfredo with Peas

One of my favorite days of the month is when my Food Network magazine arrives in the mail. It's like getting a brand new cookbook, and each fabulous recipe is loaded with the flavors of the season. The recipe sections I enjoy the most are the ''weeknight cooking" pages. They're pretty quick-to-prepare, only require a few simple & fresh ingredients, and always taste just right.

Yesterday we needed one of those recipes. It was a wild day, and I didn't feel like making anything that required more than 20ish minutes or so of total prep/cooking time, so this recipe was perfect.

Of course, I like to put my own spin on the ingredients, so instead of regular ravioli, I chose to use chicken & prosciutto tortellini. It made all the difference. The prosciutto added such a beautiful hint of bacon flavor that mixed so well with the peas and Parmesan, and made the recipe go just a bit further. Instead of throwing cash at two 9-oz packages of tortellini, I decided we could just half the recipe, and use just one package instead for the two of us. This left our bellies delightfully stuffed, but still didn't talk us out of working on the extra pie in the fridge a few hours later...

Chicken & Prosciutto Tortellini Alfredo with Peas 

Ingredients:
2x 9oz package of chicken and prosciutto tortellini
salt & pepper
4 T unsalted butter (use fake butter to lighten it up)
1/2 C heavy cream (use whole milk to lighten it up)
1 C frozen peas, thawed
1/2 C grated parmesan cheese
pinch of grated nutmeg
2 T chopped fresh parsley

Method:
1. Bring a large pot of salted (little salt) water to a boil. Add tortellini and turn heat down immediately to medium (you don't want a rolling boil - it will empty your tortellini of it's filling). Reserve 1/2 C of the cooking water, then drain tortellini.
2. Combine the butter, cream, and peas in a large skillet and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook about a minute.
3. Add ravioli, cheese, nutmeg, and a splash of the reserved cooking water to skillet and toss. Add more cooking water to thin sauce, if needed. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among 4 bowls and top with the fresh parsley.

Recipe Adapted from: Food Network Magazine, October 2012 Issue
Yields 4 servings