Tortellini with Asparagus, Peas, and Mint

18 boxes packed.

And I'm kind of at a standstill.  For a few days at least.

I need enough supplies to live on for the next few days.  Clothes.  Cleaning supplies.  Toiletries.  Sheets and towels.  And I refuse to eat fast food for the next week... So I'm keeping as many of my basic kitchen pots and pans accessible as possible.  I have at least one or two more new recipes up my sleeve before leaving this kitchen behind forever!

Recipe: (from betsylife via Pinterest)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound cheese tortellini
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut crosswise into 1/2 inch pieces, leave stems whole
1 cup shelled fresh peas, or thawed frozen peas (I used frozen)
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted (I skipped)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped mint
2 ounces fresh goat cheese softened (I used feta)
freshly ground black pepper

In a large pot, bring 3 quarts of salted water to a boil.  In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, cayenne, and salt.

(Glad I didn't pack my pasta serving bowl yet!)

Cook tortellini, peas, and asparagus in the boiling water until tortellini is al dente, about 2-3 minutes (although the pack of tortellini I had called for a 7-9 minute cooking time, so that is what I did).

Reserve 1 cup of cooking water then drain tortellini and vegetables and toss with garlic-oil mixture.  Add the pine nuts, mint, and cheese until the cheese melts into a sauce, adding cooking water as needed to moisten the pasta.

Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper before serving.

Verdict:
This recipe delivered with both simplicity and taste.  One pot.  One serving bowl.  Easy clean-up.  Although cooking pasta isn't as 'summer' friendly as cooking on the grill, the addition of so many fresh veggies made it feel lighter and more spring-like.  The kick of the cayenne pepper (in all honesty, I sprinkled in a bit more than the recipe called for) gave just enough bite in the light olive oil sauce.  The bite was balanced out by the veggies, noodles, and cheese.

Aaaaaaaannnnnnnddddddd......  It's an Alex-approved vegetarian meal (he went back for seconds!) that left us both feeling satisfied!

I will likely make a few changes when I make it again in the future.  The mint, while not bad, also did not add anything in my opinion to the overall taste.  So sans mint next time.  Also, I felt like there were a lot of peas.  Of course, I used more than the recipe called for (I wanted to just use all the frozen peas I had, so I won't have to deal when them next week when we move).  So I'll stick to just a cup in the future.  I don't dislike peas, but I don't want them to outweigh the asparagus either.