Freezerbagging Dry Tortellini

[greginmi]

I'm getting ready for a 4 day hike on North Manitou Island with my son's Boy Scout troop and I'd like to get one more dinner recipe nailed down.

I've been reading the various threads on how good dry tortellini tastes and would like to take it with us.

Has anyone figured out the hot water to tortellini ratio that minimizes the amount of water that needs to be heated or the amount you end up dumping on the ground?

Any information or experience you can pass on is appreciated.

Regards,
Greg

[sarbar]

Yes, you can soak tortellini for 20 minutes, cozied up. It is one of the few pastas that is "cooked" before drying. As well, many companies will call for up to say 20 minutes of boiling time for it. You can get by with putting it in the water in a pot and bringing to a boil, then pot cozying or as mentioned above, steeping in hot water.

[Pak-Man]

One way to get around it would be to use the extra water left over in some instant mashed potatoes. :)

[Hikes in Rain]

Or one of the packaged "instant" spagetti sause mixes.

[greginmi]

Or one of the packaged "instant" spagetti sause mixes.

All the spaghetti sauce packets I see at the grocery store require the addition of canned tomatoes and/or paste. Besides, I was planning to go the cheapskate route with packages of marinara sauce from a local deli and a couple parmesan cheese packets.

BTW, I did a test run for lunch with 1/2 cup Trader Joe's pesto tortellini with 1/2 cup hot water. Pasta was good after 10 minutes of cozying with about an 1/8 cup water left over. I'm thinking a couple tablespoons of sun dried tomato chunks should take care of the excess water.

Time to make a mid-afternoon snack.

This recipe testing is hard work! Sarbar must go hiking every day while developing a new recipe to burn off the extra calories.

Regards,
Greg

[Hikes in Rain]

Flavor and quality-wise, you'd be miles ahead with the local marinara! Good choice.

I'm pretty sure I've seen just add water type sauces in my grocery. I'll check when I stop off tonight and get some brand names. Or confirm that I'm hallucinating.

[sarbar]

This recipe testing is hard work! Sarbar must go hiking every day while developing a new recipe to burn off the extra calories.

No, she pays a trainer to make her hurt. :D The worst is that I actually pay money to them to hurt so bad you can barely move. Hehheh!!!! The other is I let the human trash compactor, er, my 11 year old son, eat everything. Since he can eat and eat and eat and never gain weight, he is our official taste tester. ;)



Btw, if you have extra water? Add in a packet of dry pesto mix and some oil! Easy and instant to do. Lots of flavor options out there. My favorite brand is Simply Organic, though Knorr makes a couple that are good.

[Gladiator]

Where do you folks find dry tortellini? Only tortellini I've been able to find is in the refrigerator section at the grocery. Is that the same stuff you all use? If so, how long does it keep without refrigeration?

[sarbar]

Look in the regular pasta aisle. Comes in small bags :) Also, you can find it at Trader Joe's for a great price.

[LaurieAnn]

I believe the dried tortellini we buy is made by Barilla. You can also dry your own tortellini and ravioli (I usually choose the fresh kind but it works with frozen too - just cook it to the package directions and toss it on the food dehydrator). If you choose cheese based varieties it works out just as well as the pre-dried. I haven't experimented with meat varieties yet.

[Hikes in Rain]

All the spaghetti sauce packets I see at the grocery store require the addition of canned tomatoes and/or paste.



Took me a little longer than I thought to get to the grocery, sorry, but I did check out pasta sauces while there, as promised.

Greg is right; the only marinara type sauces I found require tomato sauce or paste. Mostly a collection of herbs for flavoring. I did, however, find tomato paste in a tube, sort of like toothpaste. Hmmm......:-?

Also, I did find Alfredo, pesto, creamy pesto, and four cheese sauces that with the addition of powdered milk or olive oil or something like that, would work very nicely. I think that's what I was originally thinking of, and just assumed the marinara sauces were similar. I admit, I make my own sauces at home as a rule, and haven't tried them. I'm still expanding my hiking food choices.

[Toolshed]

Sam's carries it in larger 2 lb bags as well.

[sarbar]

This was a recipe sent to us a by a reader:

Dehydrated Pesto
Summary
Yield 1
Source

J.D. Puddinhead Wilson
Prep Time 5 minutes
Recipe Types Dry mixes
Description

Reader submitted trail friendly pesto recipe
Ingredients

* 3 T dried basil, crumbled
* 3 T shelf stable parmesan cheese
* 1 T dried garlic, powder or diced
* 2 T olive oil (or 2 packets)
* 1⁄4 c water

Instructions

At home pack the dry ingredients in a snack size bag and seal tightly. Pack the oil in a leak proof bottle or take packets.

Depending on your use for the pesto sauce, add the oil and up to 1/4 cup water (hot or cool) slowly, mixing till blended. If using on trail sammies, you may want to use less water for a thicker spread. Let sit for a couple minutes to blend the flavors.
Notes

Perfect for pasta: Add a couple of diced sun-dried tomatoes, a handful of pine nuts and you have a sauce worthy of any type of pasta.

Try with Potato: make mashed potatoes and pesto in two separate bags, use pesto and olive oil and red pepper flakes as condiments for mashers.

Wraps: smear on a tortillas! Really good with chicken, shrimp, turkey, tuna, dandelion greens, even makes shoe leather taste good.