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tortellini bites
This recipe basically takes the ingredients from a simple tortelloni pasta salad, and makes the presentation just a tad more elegant by popping the base ingredients onto a pick. You could marinate the tortelloni in whatever salad dressing you like; I offer a tangy lemon one here.

ingredients
1 lb. cheese tortellini (get the "fresh" kind in the refrigerated section of the supermarket rather than the dried sort)
about a dozen sundried tomatoes packed in oil, or 3 dozen really ripe cherry tomatoes
fresh basil leaves

dressing
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
lemon zest from ½ lemon
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 fat clove garlic
1 tsp. honey
¼ heaping tsp. salt
plenty of fresh ground pepper

makes about 3 dozen

1 Cook the tortelloni according to the directions that come with your pasta -- basically for however long it takes until the pasta's just tender. For fresh pasta, this shouldn't take more than a few minutes, but the actual time will vary. Drain the cooked pasta well and rinse in cold water. Let the pasta sit in the colander while you prep the dressing.
2 Mix all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Give it a taste; if it needs more zip, add more lemon juice or vinegar; if it's too tangy you can either increase the oil or the honey. If it just needs a bit more flavor in general, of course, up the salt.
3 Toss the cooked tortellini -- gently! -- with the dressing. Pop in the fridge and let the mixture sit for at least a couple of hours, or better yet a whole day. Toss the dressing pasta mixture from time to time to make sure all the flavors are properly mingling.
4 If you're using the sundried tomatoes, slice them into 3/8" - 1/2" or so thick strips. Slide a cherry tomato/sundried tomato strip, a basil leaf, and a tortellino onto a cocktail pick; repeat until you're all out of ingredients.

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