Today’s recipe makes a meal of cheese tortellini with sautéed Vidalia onions, sliced shiitake mushrooms, thinly-sliced asparagus and frozen peas, all tossed together in a simple lemon-chive cream sauce. For an optional finishing touch, top each serving with some chopped, smoked deli ham.

Ingredients
18-20 ounces of cheese tortellini
Zest of 1 lemon
1/3 cup chives
5-6 spears of asparagus
1 medium-large Vidalia onion
8 ounces pre-sliced shiitake mushrooms
Handful of frozen peas
Deli ham
2-3 tbs of butter
2-3 heavy cream

Procedure:
Zest the lemon, chop the chives and thinly slice the spears of asparagus crosswise. Chop the Vidalia onion and the deli ham.

Melt 2-3 tbs of butter in a heavy-bottomed pot and sauté the sliced Vidalia onion in that for a few minutes. Add the pre-sliced shiitake mushrooms and let those cook to soften up.

After the mushrooms have been cooking along for 4-5 minutes, add the 2 to 3 cups of heavy cream, let it come up to a boil and immediately turn the heat down so it is reducing without boiling over. The idea is to let the cream reduce by about half, and when it is close to that point add the sliced asparagus.

Once the asparagus is in the cream, add one 20-ounce package or two 9-ounce packages of cheese tortellini to a separate pot of boiling water. After the asparagus has been cooking a couple of minutes, add a handful of frozen peas, the lemon zest and chopped chives, stir it all in and turn the heat way down.

The cheese tortellini is only going to take a few minutes to cook once the water comes back to a boil. Use a slotted utensil to scoop the tortellini into the pot with the cream.

Serve it up while it is still nice and hot, with a sprinkling of the chopped, smoked deli ham on top, if you like.