During football season, a break after the 2nd game and the evening game on Sundays, there's a scramble for what to have for dinner, more often than not. A quick dinner dish is always on my mind (actually it depends on the QB playing in the evening game, why bother, the DVD has a lot of recorded shows during the week). I discover a trick now that I have this food blog, to stick to my menu I planned for the week for Sunday games. (At least twice a week coming home from work, I find myself wondering in the grocery aisle, scouring for something else to make.) A few frozen vegetables is my savior to avoid the dreaded Compost Bin, but green veggies leafy or not plus bell peppers, I want them crunchy, remain shoo-ins for the CB.

Certain components of a dish can be done a day ahead if it needs tenderizing and sauces that need to be done separately, like this Mushroom Tortellini with Pulled Brisket. On the last stage of cooking, it seems to be a quick dinner fix, yet it is high in potassium from mushrooms, spinach plus other veggies are high in protein. High enough to give one the energy to yell (or sometimes wanting to punch the erring player) at the TV almost up to mid-night.

Spinach plus Power Greens package had a big placement ad in the weekly circular of our local grocery chain last fall (2013), a mix of baby vegetables good for salad or cook with other stuff, unlike most of the salad mix greens. Here's another recipe for that package combo for a healthy home-made fast food. It has baby spinach, baby bok choy, red and green chards, hard to beat in nutrients and hard to find individually in their baby stages.

Ingredients:
Note: pkg/package - tsp/teaspoon – Tbsp/tablespoon - EVOO/extra virgin olive oil

Cilantro Sauce:
3 cilantro bundles, cut off 1″ from roots then chopped
1 pkg baby Spinach plus Power Greens (see here, spinach, baby bokchoy, red & green Swiss chards) or other spinach green mix
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup unsalted, roasted cashew nuts
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup EVOO

Brisket:
2 cups water
3 cups beef broth
1 pkg brisket, cut into thirds
4 dried bay leaves
1/4 cup Maggi Seasoning (see here, like Worcestershire sauce in Asian and most European countries)
2 tsps salt
1 tsp pepper
3 Tbsps Grill Mates Molasses Bacon seasoning

3 Tbsps cornstarch
1/4 cup water

For Tortellini:
2 pints water
2 pkgs Tortellini pasta w/ mushroom
1 tsp salt

Instructions:

For Pulled Brisket:

1. Combine all ingredients from water to bacon seasoning in a slow cooker and tenderize brisket overnight and set on low for 5 hours or in the morning on a weekend to allow the flavor to settle.
2. Drain the beef and save the broth. If you don’t have a grease/oil separator, refrigerate broth when it has cooled down to separate the grease from the broth later before making a sauce.
3. While pasta is cooking, take out refrigerated broth, then remove all visible grease. Pour broth in a small sauce pan and let it boil. Lower heat to medium low.
4. To thicken broth, mix cornstarch and water. Gently pour over broth and stir broth, then allow sauce to boil. Set aside.
5. Pull apart brisket with two forks, add 2/3 of sauce (set aside rest for table serving), 3/4 cilantro pesto and mix. Set aside 1/4 cup pesto for the tortellini.
   

Spinach Pesto:

1. Wash cilantro, spinach about 2 times to remove soil. Then do the vinegar rinse (see here).
2. Separately place cilantro and spinach on kitchen towel, roll and squeeze it to get rid off excess water.
3. Coarsely chop cilantro (discard 1″ from roots) and place in food processor together with spinach, garlic, cashew, salt, coconut oil and EVOO. Pulse, stop processor repeatedly until desired pesto-like consistency is achieved.

For Tortellini:

1. Let water boil, then add salt and tortellini. Follow package direction for cooking time for the pasta or to your desired doneness.
2. Drain pasta in a colander, then transfer into a big shallow bowl and toast cilantro pesto gently with the tortellini.
3. Serve warm on individual pasta bowl topped with pulled brisket with ice cream scoop. If more pulled brisket is desired, use small greased Pyrex glass bowl (ramekin size) or greased Chinese rice bowl.

All rights reserved The Chew Inn-NoVA Copyright January 2014.

You might be also interested on the following pasta dishes:

ROTINI with OLIVE DRESSING

Linguine with Assorted Mushrooms

LEFTOVER HAM LASAGNE

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