Pesto Tortellini Salad

Why don't we just re-name the blog "Recipes Kelly Stole from Isaac's" because I seem to have no other recipes amongst my repertoire. Sheesh. Again, this is not really a recipe, but this salad was, and still is, one of the biggest sellers at the restaurant. As with all of Isaac's recipes, I've drastically reduced the quantity from the original (5 lbs. of tortellini, anyone?)

1.5 lbs tri-colored cheese-filled tortellini (or regular white ones, whatever), cooked according to pkg directions and gently rinsed with cold water
1.5 medium-ish tomatoes, diced
1/2 medium-size red onion, diced
1/3 C black olives (do yourself a favor and get some decent olives)
2/3 C or so pesto (I did a mix of basil pesto and arugula pesto)

Dump all ingredients into a bowl and stir until everything is well-coated by the pesto. This is tasty when served immediately but the flavor will continue to develop the longer it sits. As usual, I added 2 handfuls of chopped asparagus but with this recipe you can pretty much use whichever veg makes you happy. A tablespoon or 2 of toasted pinenuts sprikled on top would be yummy.

Other things I've made recently include: Smitten Kitchen's raspberry buttermilk cake and Everybody Like Sandwiches's chocolate peanut butter oatmeal "no bake" cookies. Both recipes are super tasty but the artful berry design I used on the cake sunk into the batter during baking so mine did not look as pretty as Deb's.

Comments

Alissa said…
yay! And when we make it at home we can leave out the olives so Kelly doesn't have to pick them out for us! ;)
Kelly said…
I thought I that when I was typing up the recipe. I would even make you a special hot turkey sandwich on a pita with pineapple, BBQ sauce and spinach. With applesauce and no chips:>
Alissa said…
Hrm, if you could make my new favorite sandwich, which they also discontinued, that would be awesome, too. I can't remember what it was called, but it was a spicy black bean burger with roasted red peppers, cheddar, bacon, and some kind of spicy aoli. I always used to ask for it with tomatoes instead of red peppers, because I don't like red peppers. But then they stopped carrying the red peppers so they took my sandwich off the menu. Dur. It was really tasty on toasted multigrain bread. Yum. Want one right now!
Diane said…
Thanks for posting this recipe. This is one of our favorites from Isaac's and I couldn't remember what they added to the tortellini, besides pesto. So glad I found this blog...what a great collection of recipes!
Anonymous said…
How many does this recipie serve? I looking to take it to a cookout with about 15-20 people.

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