Tortellini with Avocado Cream Sauce - Fred Whitlock, The Good Gourmet staff

Often, good recipes arise from working with the ingredients you have available at the time.  This dish began on a Sunday when my wife took a package of frozen tortellini from the freezer and suggested I use it for dinner.  I started with a mustard, wine and cream sauce I often use for fish dishes and added the garlic and grated cheese to make it "Italian" and threw in an avocado which was perfectly ripe and ready to eat.  The result turned out to be a winning combination of flavors and I've prepared the dish many times.

Ingredients:

1 package frozen or fresh tortellini
1/2 pint heavy cream
1 ripe avocado, skinned and seeded
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp butter or margarine
1/4 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano or similar cheese
2 cloves garlic
1/2 onion
2 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Place avocado, garlic, onion and mustard in a blender or processor and puree.

Heat a large skillet, melt butter and add cream, wine and the avocado puree.  Cook for 10 minutes over low heat to combine flavors and reduce sauce slightly.  In the meantime, boil water and prepare to cook pasta.

Frozen tortellini only takes a couple of minutes to cook.  When it is al dente, add the cheese and parsley to the sauce, drain the pasta and add it to the sauce in the skillet.  Mix well and serve.   
Add cooked meat if desired to make this an entree.   Serves 4.

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