On tortelloni and olive oil

We were going to have anchovy pasta his evening but when I went to the local Sainsbury's, after my late afternoon dog walk, I noticed some 'Five Cheese Tortelloni' on offer (two for £3) and decided to go with those instead.  I've not had any sort of stuffed pasta for ages but I do know that a heavy sauce doesn't really sit well with them.  I went for a bit of a 'use up stuff in the fridge' thing and opted for a fresh, slightly spicy and very oily tomato sauce.

In a pan I softened a finely chopped shallot in rather a lot of 'Olio del Castella' olive oil.  More about olive oil later on.  Into this went three chopped cloves of garlic, three sliced large chestnut mushrooms, one sliced chilli, five chopped up fresh tomatoes and a good sprinkle of frozen basil.  This stuff is great for this sort of sauce thing; when you don't need the boldness of a 'last second added' fresh herb.  You can keep it in the freezer and it never goes off!  We currently have basil, parsley and mint stocked away for general cooking.

This was all seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and cooked together for just about as look as it took the tortelloni to cook in a pan of salted water (about three minutes!).

The pasta was drained and then stirred into the sauce and served with a good sprinkle of coarsely grated parmesan over the top.

Very yummy indeed!

So, olive oil.  I'm no expert but I do know the difference between cheap (everyday) and the more expensive 'good' olive oil.  I'm sure we all have supermarket brand oils which we use for our general cooking needs but I always have a bottle of Olio del Castella for when I want to be a bit more extravagant.  It's only about £7 for a litre bottle (it's the hexagonal one in most supermarkets - you can't miss it!) and it has a really good 'green' flavour which comes through well in oily sauces such as the one I did this evening.  It's certainly the one I use in out anchovy pasta and it's also the one I use for salad dressings or for pouring over something like a mozzarella and tomato salad.

I'm sure there are better (more expensive) oils on the market but this is certainly my failsafe brand when I want the actual flavour of the oil to come through rather than to just use it as a cooking medium.