Cheesy fried tortellini

It’s already been an entire week since my supper club in London! I know a few of you were interested in seeing some pictures, so I thought I’d share a few here – along with the recipes from the night, of course. I’ll share them one at a time over the next few weeks, starting with potentially my favourite dish from the whole night – cheesy fried tortellini! It’s cheese and pasta; it was always going to be my favourite.

Before I move on to the recipe, I kind of want to tell you about the ridiculous day I had leading up to the supper club itself. I won’t go into too much detail since this blog isn’t meant to be my memoir (not least because my life is nowhere near interesting enough for a memoir), but some of the high(low?)lights include:

– waiting in all day for a parcel that never arrived
– calling up at about 4:30pm and being told that the delivery driver left my parcel at the depot that morning, and that it wouldn’t be coming (uhhh, would have been nice if you’d let me know, UPS, not that I’m bitter or anything)
– screaming down the motorway to collect the parcel from the depot right when I needed to leave to head into London, making me about half an hour late leaving
– packing up goodie bags on my hands and knees in the back of my husband’s van on the way to the venue (please don’t call the police on me)
– also getting dressed and doing my make up loose in the back of the van, bracing for every corner and pausing mascara application for every speed bump
– driving down the road with the most speed bumps in the entire world

Anyway, we got to the venue eventually, only slightly flustered and with only seven mascara smears on my forehead (success!).

I had a lovely evening meeting some lovely blog readers and some lovely people who had never even read my blog before (I hope you’re here now, hello!), and eating some lovely food, which the lovely chef and lovely kitchen team had prepared just lovely-ly.

The menu consisted of:

Starters: cheesy fried tortellini; roasted cauliflower soup with crispy leeks

Main courses: beluga lentils with herb crusted aubergine; garlic mushroom burritos with sweet potato fries

Desserts: salted chocolate pots with caramel sauce; balsamic roasted strawberries with coconut cream

After stuffing ourselves silly, the night ended with some awesome goodie bags (which were totally worth scrabbling around in the back of a van for). Thanks to the amazing companies who generously donated items:

(left to right)
– Cranks, who donated some Whole Lotta Loaf wholemeal loaves
– Your Tea, who donated a selection of lovely tea bags
– Just Ingredients, who donated some cute little packs containing basil salt, mixed peppercorns, and smoked paprika
– Pressels, who donated big bags of their crispy pretzel snacks
– Lindeman’s, who donated bottles of their Bin 65 wines

I’m sure everyone went home very happy with full stomachs! Thanks to everyone who came, I had a really really great evening.

Now, onto that cheesy fried tortellini…

It pretty much does what it says on the tin – it’s tortellini that’s been breaded and fried, then tossed in a bit of finely grated parmesan (well, a veggie alternative anyway). If you’re quick enough, the cheese is melted a touch by the hot breadcrumbs – and even if you’re not quick enough, you still end up with an incredible  crispy, cheesy snack. As far as I could tell, this was a big hit with everyone who chose it at the supper club.

You can use any type of tortellini you like. No, I don’t make my own tortellini (do you know me at all?), but I did make sure I got the good stuff for a really top notch appetiser.

I used a spinach and ricotta tortellini, but mushroom tortellini, sun-dried tomato tortellini, or pretty much any other kind of tortellini would be amazing too. Let’s be honest, it’s hard to ruin cheesy fried tortellini.

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Cheesy fried tortellini

Prep Time: 1 hr

Total Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 400 g fresh tortellini ~3 cups, I used spinach and ricotta
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 100 g plain flour
• 200 g panko breadcrumbs
• Oil for frying
• 50 g vegetarian parmesan-style cheese finely grated
• Salt
• Black pepper

Instructions

• Boil the tortellini in a pan of water for just a couple of minutes, until half-cooked. Drain them, and gently spread them out on a lined baking tray in a single layer. Leave to cool.
• Toss each piece of tortellini in the flour, then dip in the egg, then coat in the breadcrumbs. Place back onto the baking tray while you do the rest (I found it easiest to do this in batches of about 8 pieces at a time).
• When you’ve breaded all of the tortellini, heat about 1cm of oil in a deep frying pan or large wok (or, of course, use a deep fryer). When the oil is heated to the point that a breadcrumb will sizzle when added, add one batch of the tortellini. Don’t overcrowd the pan - the tortellini need to be in a single layer, with a bit of space in between them. When the undersides are golden brown, turn each piece over, and repeat with the other side.
• Leave the cooked tortellini to drain on some kitchen paper while you cook the remaining batches.
• When all of the tortellini are cooked, add the parmesan cheese and plenty of salt and pepper, and toss until all the tortellini are well-coated. Serve immediately.

Author: Becca Heyes

Want a cheesy appetiser that’s a bit less labour-intensive? Try my chutney and cheese spirals instead – they only take 10 minutes to put together!