Creamy Pesto Tortellini Bake

Ingredients

• 100g baby spinach
• 200g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 500g fresh cheese tortellini
• sea salt and black pepper, to season
• 200ml double cream
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 160g basil pesto
• 1 tsp lemon zest (optional)
• 50g fresh breadcrumbs
• 25g butter, diced
• 150g mozzarella, shredded
• 50g Parmesan, grated
• Dressed green salad, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan 180°C). Bring a large pan of water to the boil and salt it generously — it should taste like the sea. This is your only chance to season the pasta itself.
2. Drop the tortellini in and cook for 1–2 minutes less than the packet says — they'll finish cooking in the oven, so you want them just shy of done. Drain and set aside.
3. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the cherry tomatoes cut-side down in a single layer — don't crowd them, or they'll steam instead of blistering. Leave them for 3 minutes until the cut sides catch and turn jammy.
4. Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant — 30 seconds, no more. Burnt garlic turns the whole dish bitter, so watch it and pull the pan off the heat the moment it smells sweet. Toss in the spinach with a pinch of salt and let it wilt for a minute.
5. In a large bowl, stir the pesto into the double cream until smooth, then grate in the lemon zest. Fold the tortellini and the tomato-spinach mixture through the pesto cream so everything is glossy and evenly coated. Taste, season, taste again — adjust now, not at the table.
6. Spoon the sauced tortellini into a 20–24cm baking dish. Scatter the mozzarella and Parmesan over the top in an even layer.
7. Rub the diced butter into the breadcrumbs with your fingertips until the mixture looks like damp sand, then scatter over the cheese — the butter is what turns them deep golden rather than pale and dry.
8. Bake for 18–22 minutes until the cheese is bubbling at the edges and the breadcrumbs are properly golden, with the filling silky and hot underneath.
9. Rest for 3–4 minutes so the sauce settles and stops sliding. Bring the dish straight to the table, scatter the chopped parsley over the top, squeeze a lemon wedge across the bake to cut the cream, and serve with a green salad alongside.