Oct 26 2017

Italian Tomato Tortellini with Spinach & Artichokes in a Grana Padano Cream Sauce

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Cheese filled tortellini nestled in a luscious Grana Padano cream sauce with spinach, artichoke hearts and the highest-quality, freshest, best-tasting tomatoes by Redpack Tomatoes.

This post is being sponsored by Redpack Tomatoes featuring their Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic and Oregano. All opinions of these ABSOLUTELY AMAZING products are mine.

Folks I literally have been having a field day working on this recipe and with Redpack Tomatoes. Trusting a brand, the quality of their product and the taste is extremely important not only to me personally but also to the food I prepare for my family. When it comes to Redpack Tomatoes I never have to worry as they truly create the best product out there. Epicurious, who we all know and love, voted their Whole peeled tomatoes as the “Best Canned Tomatoes”. Marrying into an Italian family being able to make a marinara and Sunday gravy like Nonna is a requirement to be accepted in the family. I, honestly, owe a lot of my amazing tomato based recipes to their tomato products.

This recipe I’ve been making for decades as it’s one of our favorites. For me, it’s comfort food but fancy enough to wow your dinner guests. This recipe is one that I tend to serve family-style (i.e., a double batch) and straight out of the pan that sets in the middle of our dinner table. This is a dish that, when my nieces and nephews used to stay the weekend with me, I’d let them help me out in the kitchen. Nothing made me happier than seeing their little faces light up while we would make this.

Other than making the tortellini in a separate pot (I used frozen), this truly is a one-pan dish. Now you’ll notice in the above picture you see both Red Gold and Redpack Tomato cans. What you may not know is that both products come from the same family-owned company for 75 years and each product delivers the same great-tasting tomatoes. In fact, they even grown on the same family farms! This company understands the value of doing things the right, delicious, way.

So why discuss this? Well where I live they are doing a brand transition in my grocery stores. The 14.5-ounce cans from Redpack are being moved to the Red Gold brand. To make the transition as easy on us, they are putting a new label design on the existing Redpack cans to help us know that the same great, amazing quality that we’ve come to know and love is inside.

But for me, the real taste is do they taste different? Up until a few years ago, Red Gold wasn’t available in my area. So when I made this dish I made 2 batches – one using the Redpack Diced Tomatoes Basil, Garlic & Oregano and a 2nd pan using the Red Gold Diced Tomatoes Basil, Garlic & Oregano and do a blind taste test to Mr. Fantabulous.

When I opened both cans, I tasted the juice from both. I couldn’t tell a difference. They both had that fresh, delicious tomato flavor with an incredible seasoning blend of basil, garlic and oregano. Like we’re talking no extra spices are needed in this recipe *points to the recipe below – see no additional spices other than salt/pepper!*. The freshness and well-balanced flavors honestly are what makes this recipe one of my family’s favorites. You taste the freshness of the tomatoes and the herb seasonings. The balance is honestly, perfect.

But do you want to know what’s even more awesome about Redpack Tomatoes and the Red Gold Company? They are leading the effort to help feed families in need. Red Gold is all about ‘families helping families’. Did you know that 1 out of 8 people in the US struggle with hunger; that more than 11 million families in America face hunger? When I read these stats my heart just broke. No one, NO ONE should go hungry. What this amazing company is doing is honestly incredible! For each Red Gold product purchased for family meals throughout the month of October, Red Gold will donate one meal to someone in need – with a goal of 2 million meals donated to Feeding America food banks. 2 MILLION MEALS!

When you buy these products you’re not only getting the BEST out there but you’re also helping a family in need. Do your part, please! Let’s #HelpCrushHunger once and for all!

Now this recipe I know like the back of my hand as it always carried such amazing memories for me but knowing that this recipe can also help families in need just with the purchase of a Red Gold product, well, it makes it more special and meaningful. As I made both pans I kept tasting along the way (kind of like how my nieces and nephews did) to see if there was any flavor difference. Honestly there wasn’t; just great amazing flavors. I had to laugh though when Mr. Fantabulous came out to the kitchen to see 2 big pans of this on the stove. I got the “Um are we having company???” I chuckled and said “No, We’re doing a taste test. I need you to tell me if one tastes different than the other. If one did, was it better, worse and be specific as possible.”

It’s funny as when we first got married he used to groan and roll his eyes when I would do stuff like this to him. He wasn’t a foodie at all. He ate purely for sustenance and not flavor. I mean he truly was an anomaly when it came to food coming from an Italian family. He wasn’t into flavors and pretty much lived on plain chicken, pasta and tuna. *shudder* Then comes me, this chef/foodie lover extraordinaire, into his life pretty much imposing my lifestyle onto him and pretty much ‘forcing’ him to try foods and go beyond his comfort zone.

Now, when I ask him stuff like this, he gets excited (though he won’t publicly admit this lol) and becomes the most insane food critic ever. I mean we’re talking worse than Joe Bastianich when he was on Master Chef. I LOVED Joe and his brutal honesty. That’s how much husband is. I swear he analyzed each bite from both plates, picking it apart as if he was trying to determine if I used one additional grain of salt in one batch than the other. This lasted a good 15 20 minutes. I mean I actually was getting tired but hey, I asked for it, right?

Finally, he said “So I’ve completed my analysis. Shall I share with you my results?” all official like. I swear he’s such a dork! He said “I’ve concluded that Bowl A and Bowl B are from the same batch. That you’re trying to perform some test and tried to introduce some type of mental game (placebo effect) to only make me think that they are 2 different batches but really they are one in the same.” Seriously, who says stuff like this? Oh I know.. my husband! Oh the joys of being married to an Engineer I tell ya.

But when I shared that they were truly 2 different batches AND that I used 2 different cans of tomatoes (yes, I had to show both empty cans) he was shocked. This, to me folks, is huge! This means that when they replace your 14.5-ounce cans from Redpack to Red Gold they aren’t sacrificing flavor, taste or quality! Simply put, I can still create this recipe, share it with my family and instead of them asking something “What’s different in this recipe?” they’ll ask “Can I have another serving? This is amazing!”.