Fast Pasta Dinner

This quick dish was a staple around my house when my mom was too busy with school. It's great when you need to throw together something warm in almost no time at all, and it works with ingredients you can keep around forever. It even works in the summer, so long as it's not too hot to use the stove.

Ingredients

• 1 pound bag pasta, such as dried or frozen tri-color tortellini
• 1 medium onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 bunch spinach or Swiss chard
• 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
• olive oil

Directions

1. Prepare pasta according to package directions (generally cook in boiling water for 7-12 minutes, depending on the kind of pasta), drain.
2. Meanwhile, dice the onion and mince the garlic.
3. If using Swiss chard from the garden, remove the long ribbed stems, and chop or tear roughly.
4. If using spinach, wash and drain if necessary.
5. If using cherry tomatoes, slice them in half; if using fresh roma or larger tomatoes, dice them.
6. Preheat large wide pan over medium high heat; add some oil.
7. Sauté onion and garlic until the onion is translucent.
8. Add tomatoes to the pan and heat through.
9. Add spinach or Swiss chard to the pan, and use the tomatoes to help wilt the greens. Optionally add a tablespoon of water and cover the pan to steam the greens instead.
10. Add the cooked, drained pasta; warm through.
11. Serve with a block of Parmesan cheese and a grater, if desired.

He said

If you happen to have fresh tomatoes, you can substitute several fresh cherry tomatoes and/or a few roma tomatoes for the can of diced tomatoes in this dish. I've also tried adding some tomatillos, and while I can't quite recommend what it did to the flavor, there's probably a way to use them right.

She said

I didn't try this particular dish, but I'm sure I would have loved it, minus any cheese in the tortellini. This is a pretty-looking dish that sounds so yummy.