Beef Bolognese with Tortellini

I need to start this post off with an apology – To my buddy, Zerobear Polybear. He is pretty PO’ed at me
because not only did I steal his name to use here, but I seem to have cut him out of any credit for the
great guy he is. Zerobear Polybear, esq, BS, MS, PhD, MD, GED, JD, COPD, SOB (I think I correctly stated
his vita) came into our family on Christmas morning in 1982. His father was a dashingly handsome
bathmat and his mom a lovely sleeping bag. He is a nearly perfect example of the American Polybear
species, with a well formed pot belly, satin nose, and beady plastic eyes behind those Foster Grants. If
you met him (God help you) he would quickly tell you about his yellow leg that strangely showed up
during his first trip through the washing machine a few years after he came to live with us.

He had his own, quite popular blog (eat your heart out King of Fishes) one time, but was forced to retire
when he was busted for the apparently fraudulent offering of online lottery prizes he had no intention of
giving away. He lost his court trial on those charges after he presented a somewhat suspicious SODDI
(some other dude did it) defense. These days, he works off his parole as chief of home security for
Mumzie and Da. Here is a current photo of ZeroBear with his pet hamsters, The Captain and Tennille. As
you can see, ZeroBear is a believer in the Chicago style of politics, as in “Vote early and vote often”.

He is quite fond of “Eye-talie-yan” food and asked me to post one of his favorites, what he calls Beef
Bolognese with Tortellini Pasta.
Beef Bolognese with Tortellini Pasta (Serves 4)

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground sirloin beef 1 medium onion, chopped

4 medium mushrooms, chopped 1 can diced tomatoes
1 Tablespoon Italian spaghetti seasoning 1 Tablespoon Oregano
1 Tablespoon Lawry’s Garlic Salt 1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons salt, to taste 3 Teaspoons Fresh Basil, chopped
2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley, chopped 1/2 cup dry white wine
Fresh spinach (Use more than I did), chopped 1/2 cup Tortellini stuffed dry pasta
Salted water with olive oil – for cooking Tortellini 1 Tablespoon Tomato paste
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, divided

I am aware that my Bolognese sauce should have had diced carrot and a little milk. Honestly, I forgot
those ingredients. I cook without a recipe most of the time and I just forgot - old guy brain fart I guess.
Use them in yours if you want. They are nice if you remember to add them.

Directions:

Add ground sirloin to the pan and season with Garlic salt and black pepper.
Cook until browned then add onions and mushrooms and cook them until tender.
Cook the Tortellini in lightly salted water until al dente then remove your pasta from boiling water and
transfer to iced water to hold until needed. This can be done ahead if desired.

Add 2 Tablespoons Italian Seasoning to the beef. I use this seasoning a lot. Works fine.
Now, add tomatoes and wine. If making the dish properly, also add a quarter cup of diced carrot.

Chop the Basil and add as much as you like.

Add the Oregano.

And parsley.

Chop and add the Spinach – I could and should have added more. The Spinach taste is nice but I had
almost none in the house, so I added what I had. The dish needs 3 or 4 times this much or more.
Cooking time this far was about 40 minutes, but you will need to cook the dish even longer to break
down the tomatoes and other vegetables. Cooking reduces the liquid, so more needs to be added as you
go. What better liquid to add than pasta water? It adds great Tortellini pasta flavor to the dish (as would
the milk had I remembered it). I eventually cooked the dish, another hour at a low boil and added more
pasta water 3 times, with at least 2 cups (total) added, then reduced back to the original thickness.

Tomatoes make a nice Bolognese, but nothing is nicer than a little tomato paste in any dish like this one
so I added a Tablespoon of paste to my sauce.

This would be a good time to add a quarter cup of milk, but along with my diced carrots, I forgot to add
milk. After adding the milk you continue cooking it down to a thickness you like. Then the pre-cooked
Tortellini Pasta is added. If you wondered, these little pasta pillows are folded and stuffed with
Parmesan cheese, then dried. When you cook them, they get soft and cheesy.
Now it’s the time to stir in a nice portion of parmesan cheese.

And top it with even more parmesan. Then the dish goes into a 350 degree F oven for 20 minutes to
melt everything together into a meaty, tomato thick, cheesy dinner treat.
It would be nice to make some salad to serve with your dish while waiting for the cheese to melt, so I
did. Before you know it, the cheese has melted, your Italian tortellini pasta dish is out of the oven, and
ready to serve. Don’t tell the bear, but regardless of what he thinks, it is pronounced Italian (I·tal·ian).

Even without the carrot and milk, this was not a bad meal. Thanks for looking. If you want to try this,
please only use half the Tortellini in the package you buy because next week I will share the recipe for a
killer Italian soup that will make you a famous soup chef – at least at home.