Tortellini Salad

      I do not have a green thumb, and yet this year I have attempted an herb garden.  It's beautiful!  I have a couple different types of thyme, some chives, cilantro, oregano, tarragon, a bay tree and tons of basil.  I am so proud of how well it's done, but I've gotten to the point where I need to find something to do with all this basil.  I think in the end I'm just going to make pesto and freeze it, but for now I am having fun playing with the fresh stuff.  Most fun of all. . . I made a video for you! This is showing you how to chiffonade basil, a technique that turns your leafy herbs or greens into beautiful thin strips that are great in salads, as garnish or you can use it for say collards, and cut thicker strips and it simply makes a great way evenly chop it up.   

      I decided to use my basil to make a basil vinaigrette to go on a tortellini salad. This recipe starts with the ingredients for the salad, you can get this going and then set aside to finish the dressing.
In a small sautee pan melt
1 tbs butter, add in
1/4 red onion, small diced and
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped 
cook on low heat with a pinch of salt until the walnuts are lightly toasted.  Let cool.
      In a bowl mix
9 oz container fresh tortellini, lightly boil and cool in ice water
10 oz jar marinated mushrooms, I used Bella Famiglia mixed mushrooms.  Be sure to drain well
1 roasted red pepper, roughly chopped  
lastly add your cooled nut mixture.
This dressing is really simple, if you do it right it will emulsify at least for a little bit, but if it separates on you don't really worry about it, it's not necessary for this salad, it will be tasty no matter what!  Start with 
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp anchovie paste (optional, but it really gives it just that little bit of extra flavor) 
1 TBS Parmesan snow (I like using block Parmesan and using a micro-plane to grate it) 
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
3 TBS champagne vinegar
Then slowly whisk in  1/4 cup olive oil
Lastly mix in 1 TBS freshly chopped Basil
toss the dressing with the rest of the salad, and voila! tortellini salad. I garnished with a little bit of parmesan I had in the fridge, but if you want a really pretty garnish make curls out of your block parmesan by using a peeler to take strips out of the cheese.  This will give you beautiful large curls and will show off that nice cheese. 

PS-  I have to confess, this video made my very nervous. I didn't actually have any help filming it, and the tripod was kind of in the way.  I really enjoyed making it though, and well, wanted to share with all of you the little bit of fun I got to have making it.  After doing it I have realized just how much I enjoy teaching and talking about food.  Thank you for letting me share!