Monday Night Dinner: Lemon and Dill Cheese Tortellini with Asparagus

This dinner makes me feel like the sun is shining and birds are chirping, even when it's gray and depressing here in the ol' Emerald City.  I timed this one, and from the time you put your water boil it's 20 minutes to the table.  I like eating it cold the next day as well.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 lb asparagus spears, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 Tbsp lemon zest
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp dill
• 2-1/2 cups three-cheese tortellini
• 1 Tbsp shredded Parmesan

Directions

 You can either boil 2 separate pots of water for this one, or do what I did and use the same one for both the asparagus and the tortellini.  It all depends if you have a wire mesh strainer like this one:

Have a medium bowl of ice water ready.  Fill a medium pot fairly full of water, add a little salt, and bring to a boil.  Rest your mesh strainer on the top of the pot and toss in your asparagus.  Cook for 2-3 minutes, then lift your strainer out and place it in the bowl of ice water, making sure all the asparagus pieces are submerged in the ice water, to stop the asparagus from cooking any further from its own endothermic heat.

Toss your tortellini in the boiling pot and cook according to the package instructions (probably about 7 min).
While pasta is cooking and asparagus is icing, grate the zest of 1 lemon (about a tablespoon) into your pasta serving bowl.  Add olive oil, dill, and salt to the zest and stir in the bottom of the bowl.
Drain the pasta and asparagus and toss with your lemony-dill olive oil.  Sprinkle with the parm and serve.

Serves 4