Italian Night

My friend Daniel McMurtry and I like to host a dinner every once in a while and we like to do a themed dinner. We have done a variety and this time we did an Italian Night. I made Baked Chicken and Shrimp Tortellinni Gratinati.

I had the Tortellini at a Bertucci's and I loved it and so I thought I would figure out how to make it myself. I found the list of ingredients online and then just add what I think looks good. It didn't call for Shrimp but I decided to add some in and it is delicious. Daniel made bread sticks to go along and it was all really good and we had a good turn out.

If you would like to try your hand at making it here is the ingredients you need.

TORTELLINI GRATINATI

cheese filled tortellini -I get this from Costco and it comes with two packages and I use one package per batch. One package is about 24 oz. I boil the Tortellini and throw in frozen shrimp about the last 3 minutes it is boiling to thaw the shrimp. 
chicken breast (cooked & diced) 
cream (I use Whipping cream, about half a pint) 
Ricotta cheese (I use about 1-2 heaping spoonfuls)
shredded mozzarella 
Romano (this is a very strong cheese so I don't use a lot)
parmigiano (Parmesan cheese) 
Alfredo sauce (1 bottle)
diced tomatoes (how ever many you want) 

I mix the Alfredo sauce, cream, and cheeses together in a large bowl. I then add in the chicken, tortellini, and shrimp. Then I add the tomatoes. Once everything is stirred together I dump it in a casserole dish and cover it with cheese I combine the mozzarella, Romano, and Parmesan. Again I use very little Romano because it is very strong. 
Bake in oven at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes until bubbling.

For dessert I made Italian Raspberry Almond Meringue cookies. I decided to add some chocolate to the cookies. Below the Raspberry preserve I put a layer of Nutella. Everyone loved the cookies and I took some of the leftovers to work and everyone there loved them as well. They all said the chocolate was a nice surprise. You didn't expect it to be there and when you take a bite it was a nice surprise. These cookies were fun to make and were a new experience. It took a little experimenting to get it to look just right.