Give Store-Bought Tortellini A 5-Star Makeover With One Ultra-Simple Sauce

For most at-home chefs, making sophisticated meals at home is more attainable with the use of convenient, easy-to-prepare, store-bought foods. Whether refrigerated, frozen, or shelf-stable, you might already consider tortellini a step above common pastas, such as spaghetti or rigatoni. Believe it or not, tortellini is more than a go-to pasta that bulks up your favorite soups. In order to transform tortellini into a simple and delicious weeknight meal, prepare a quick-and-tasty brown butter pan sauce: All you need (besides tortellini) is butter, fresh sage, lemon, and salt.

Start by choosing a reputable brand of packaged tortellini from your neighborhood grocery store. Keep in mind, the color of your store-bought tortellini matters; always opt for varieties that have a paler hue, which usually indicates your tortellini's been made with cleaner ingredients. Then, cook and drain the tortellini according to the package's directions. Next, heat and brown a decent amount of butter in a medium skillet until it begins to give off a nutty aroma. Add some fresh sage leaves, remove your pan from the heat, and add some lemon juice. From here, add your cooked tortellini to the pan and reheat the combined mixture gently over low heat until warmed through.

While brown butter is enough to make an extra-luxurious sauce, there are a few additional ways to make this simple tortellini meal even more appealing. For starters, add some chopped shallots and minced garlic to your butter as it nears the end of browning if you want your pan sauce to have a more robust flavor. Consider adding a few other unexpected ingredients; for example, add a handful of chopped walnuts to give your brown butter sauce a nuttier flavor. Toasted walnuts drenched in savory brown butter and sage make for a supremely rich and satisfying dinner.

Alternatively, fry some bacon after your butter browns and use a small amount of the leftover grease to cook shallots, then incorporate the bacon and brown butter back into the pan; the addition of bacon creates a meatier pan sauce. You can also use a small amount of pasta water to make this flavorful sauce more substantial. Speaking of ways to stretch the flavor of savory brown butter, bulk up your sauce with chicken or vegetable stock and heavy cream instead of pasta water. For a more complex taste, include a small pour of pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc. While brown butter may be the best sauce to serve with pumpkin ravioli, it's also a surefire ingredient you can use to upgrade store-bought tortellini.