High and dry

When it comes to tortellini, it always seems like fresh is best—and yet so few of us have a wizened Nonna in the kitchen hand-rolling pasta. The ones in the refrigerator case in the supermarket look sort of fresh, but they are really pretty bad. So, I never would have thought that I’d find an edible—nay, shockingly, kind of good—tortellini on the shelf with the rest of the pastas. Barilla’s dried tortellini, though, are really nice, especially for a simple lunch. I like the three-cheese ones with butter, chili flakes, a sprinkling of fresh arugula leaves and cherry tomatoes; my daughter likes them with just butter. They’re also excellent in soups, like a brothy spring vegetable soup with leeks and asparagus. (You do have to be sure that they are fully cooked, to erase any hint of chalkiness in the filling.) I’m not saying they would fool Nonna, but she might be glad to get the day off from her pasta servitude.