mixed cheese and basil tortellini with a fresh and chunky tomato sauce

mixed cheese and basil tortellini with a fresh and chunky tomato sauce
jamie oliver
naked chef

55g fontina cheese
55g pecorino cheese
55g parmesan cheese
55g ricotta cheese
2 good handfuls of fresh basil picked salt and freshly ground black pepper
455g pasta (qv special recipe pasta)
1 tomato sauce recipe (qv basic tomato sauce)
extra olive oil and parmesan cheese to serve

Grate or finely chop (if necessary) the cheeses and add to a bowl with three
quarters of the basil torn up.
It is always a good idea to add one binding cheese such as ricotta to your
mixture as this helps to hold it all together.
Season with a little pepper.
Then fill your tortellini (qv tortellini) and cook in boiling salted water
for 3 to 4 minutes until tender.
You should be able to cook your tomato sauce once prepared in the same
amount of time that it takes to cook the tortellini.
When the tortellini are cooked drain them add the tomato sauce and toss. Add
the remaining fresh basil (whole) and toss again.
Serve with a tittle extra olive oil and some parmesan cheese.

Some of the worst tortellini that I have tried have been mixed cheese ones.
I must admit they’ve always been from supermarkets or horrible delis and
they’ve been filled with leftover or really rubbery cheap cheese. This
tortellini recipe is absolutely superb because you choose and balance the
cheeses to your own taste. Choose different mixtures strong cheeses creamy
cheeses a combination that you enjoy eating.

Remember when cheese cooks it
melts and some cheeses such as fontina have better melting qualities. The
fresh tomato sauce is great because as well as giving a lot of flavour it
also cuts through the fattiness of the cheese.

Serves 4