Cheese Tortellini with Beef and Cream Sauce

This particular dinner didn't come so much from a recipe as a quick description of a friend's dinner. It sounded easy and tasty though, so I figured I'd give it a try.

Cheese Tortellini with Beef and Cream Sauce
1 lb. ground beef
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can condensed golden mushroom soup
2 cans of milk
2 packets onion soup mix
sliced cremini mushrooms (I think I had about half a pound)
black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 lbs. cheese tortellini
grated Parmesan, to serve

This came out quite tasty, but not perfect. I'd like to try to tweak it a little bit to see if I can really get that flavour I'm looking for. I have a few ideas that I'd like to try out next time to improve it a little bit.

Improved Cheese Tortellini
1 lb. ground beef
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can milk
1 can white wine
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 packets onion soup mix
1/2 lb. cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 c. frozen peas
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 Tbsp. dried parsley
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 lbs. tortellini (cheese or cheese & asparagus)
grated Parmesan, to serve

1. Brown the ground beef in a frying pan. Add to crock.
2. Heat the olive oil in the pan and add the onion. Sauté until it just begins to brown. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. Add to crock.
3. Reconstitute the soup with one can of milk and one can of white wine and add it to the crock.
4. Add remaining ingredients (except for Parmesan), stir to combine, and turn on high for 1 hour.
5. Top with grated Parmesan and serve.

For my initial run-through I didn't precook the beef. This worked fine, but I think the flavour would've been better if I'd browned it a little first. I think some sautéed onions would've gone a long way as well. And garlic.

I generally find Worcestershire sauce to be a pretty solid choice to go with beef. Hopefully it'll be a nice addition to this sauce. A full tablespoon might be a bit on the heavy side, but the husband and I are both big fans of the stuff, so I'm not too worried about overdoing it.

I don't think the frozen peas are really necessary, but it makes me feel like the dish is slightly more balanced so, if they don't detract from it, I'd like to try including them next time. I think the thyme and parsley will go well with the white wine and the creaminess of the sauce. I debated about the bay leaf, but I think I'll toss one in next time and see how it comes out.

The cheese tortellini worked nicely in this dish, but I feel like an asparagus-stuff pasta would also complement the sauce well, so I may give that a try if they have anything appropriate on sale the next time I feel like making this. Using a pasta that at least nominally contains additional vegetables would also make me feel slightly more virtuous when making this as a one-pot meal as well.