The other night my wife and I  lamented that we had nothing planned for dinner.  My stomach was growling.  Usually we plan ahead a day or two. We have been pretty busy and never made plans for dinner.  She told me that she bought dry tortellini pasta from Sam's Club. She wanted to try it with tomato sauce. 

So, I had to whip up something quick and easy since it was getting a little late in the afternoon.  I was not in the mood for a tomato based sauce again. I began pondering alfredo sauce.  Suppose I use different Italian cheeses to make and alfredo sauce? I did not have any cream though, so I would have to somehow make it creamy with just milk. Then I thought about the baked macaroni and cheese recipe. I could modify that to make an alfredo-like sauce with the tortellini and then just bake it. 

That was the ticket. To jazz it up and give it some color I wanted to add something green.  The best vegetable that I could think of that goes with an alfredo sauce was broccoli, and luckily we had a crown on hand to use.

The method and technique for making this tortellini alfredo dish was exactly the same as the one used in the  baked macaroni and cheese recipe. The only thing that is different are the ingredients.  There was also an extra step involved in preparing the broccoli. I added broccoli to the dish to not only add color, but I wanted to get some vegetables into the dish, so my kids would get some extra nutrition. After all was said and done, they had no idea it was even there. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
a crown of broccoli
2 cups of dry tortellini cheese pasta< br/>4 tablespoons of butter
1/4 cup of flour
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded Romano cheese
1/2 cup shredded Asiago cheese
a dash of salt and pepper

For the topping:
1/3 cup of shredded Parmesan.

First boil some water and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Chop the broccoli in several chunks and place in the boiling water for about 4 to 5 minutes so that it softens up.  Remove broccoli from the boiling water and set aside to let it cool.  If you want the broccoli to cool faster then run it under some cold water.

Cook your pasta according to the directions on the box.  I left mine slightly undercook because there was going to be more cooking time in the oven.  I was not quite sure how the tortellini would hold up being baked. I was a little afraid that it would come out like mush if I cooked it fully. Next time, I may just cook it fully because it seemed OK.

After the broccoli is cool enough, shred it into very small pieces.  You can do a light chop in a food processor if you have one handy.

Next, make your roux. Place the pot on low heat and add butter and melt it down. Alternate adding flour and milk to the melted butter a little at a time. Gradually keep adding milk and flour and stirring gently until it thickens.  Do not use high heat for this and do not let it boil, it will burn.

Once the roux is thickened, blend in your cheeses. There is a total of 1 1/2 cups. You can add more or use less. Stir gently so that is melts. You should end up with a nice and creamy sauce. Be extral careful not to burn or you will end up with a mess.  Keep the temperature on your stove below the boiling point.  Next add in the tortellini and chopped brocolli. Stir to blend.

When everything is blended, put the mixture in a greased 10 inch oven-safe bowl.  Top with a little shredded Parmesan and place in the oven for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees, or until it is boiling along the sides and the top is a nice golden brown.

Here is how it turned out.  The sauce was slightly dry after baking in the oven. Next time I will make add a little more milk and cheese so that it will be more saucey.  Another thing I am going to add next time is a chopped red pepper.  Then this dish would have all of the colors of the Italian flag represented.

The kids loved it. The best thing about it is that they did not even notice that they were eating broccoli.