Tri-Color Tortellini Alfredo with Mild Italian Sausage

While wandering through the grocery store awhile back, I came across a small package of  Tri-Colored Tortellini in the freezer section, it looked fun and different, so I bought a package. Then, a bit later, I found a delicious looking mild, sweet, Italian sausage at the butcher shop inside my local Sprout's Market (it's nice to see actual butchers in a butcher shop), to go with the tortellini. It has to be "mild" in our house so my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") will eat it. Now we have a meal in the making!

To the sausage and Tortellini, I will be adding our favorite Alfredo sauce and freshly grated Parmesan cheese, both of which I keep on hand. Here are the steps I followed:

—I started by removing the casing from the sausage so I can break it down into pieces that are roughly the same size as the tortellini, to make it easier to get both in a single bite. I used about a pound.

—In a 12", cast iron (or other heavy bottomed pan), I place the sausage in and heat on medium to medium-high. This mixture needs to be stirred regularly to make certain you don't burn it and it stays tender, but browns and cooks through. (My wife also recommends a splatter screen to keep the cook-top clean.)

 —Now, drop your pasta into boiling, SALTED, water and cook following package instructions. I like to finish mine in the sauce so al dente is good, since my wife likes hers done  a bit more than al dente.
 —While the pasta cooks, add your Alfredo to the DRAINED sausage off heat and stir thoroughly until sausage is coated. Make sure you have enough to coat the pasta too!
 —Make sure you have grated some Parmesan for finishing, even though Parmesan is in the sauce you can never have enough Parmesan.
 —Drain the tortellini and add it to the sauced sausage and top with Parmesan. (You may want to reserve a bit of the pasta water to loosen your sauce if needed).
 —Dish it up into an ample bowl, top with fresh ground pepper, and of course, more Parmesan!

Results & Conclusions
This was a delicious dish. I will not be using the brand of Tortellini I bought again, because it didn't add to the dish. The sausage turned out superb and the Alfredo, tasty. Next time I will probably try making my own Alfredo to test my skills.