Cozy Italian Tortellini Soup
A handful of simple, honest ingredients simmer together to warm you up.
Making your own stock pumps up the addictive quality of this soup, and it’s way easier than you think.
Ingredients
1/2 onion
A few cloves of garlic
4 cups homemade chicken stock
1 lb mild Italian pork sausage (uncooked, in or out of the casing. if you get it in the casings – or in links – you will just have to squeeze the meat out and discard the casings)
1 package fresh tortellini with your fav filling (I love a 4 cheese or mushroom for this. ravioli also works)
1 can San Marzano tomatoes (sometimes I toss in fresh grape or cherry tomatoes if that’s what I have on hand. they will burst and get delightfully stewy throughout the cooking process)
1 bag spinach (I usually go fresh, but frozen works here)
I bunch kale
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
Chopped parsley (garnish)
Instructions
Get your onion chopped and into a dutch oven or heavy pot with a good amount of olive oil and a generous sprinkle of salt on low heat. Let it start to sizzle and become aromatic.
*this is my dutch oven. I’m pretty obsessed with it. It’s an investment but they go on sale from time to time and I use it like 3 times/week.
Grate the cloves of garlic into your pot using a microplane, zester, or grater. If you have none of those, you can mince the garlic, but definitely put a microplane on your amazon wish list.
Get the sausage in the pan to start browning a bit. You’ll notice some of the fat rendering out as well. This is good :) sprinkle in the basil and red pepper flakes.
After a few minutes, carefully squeeze the tomatoes into the pot and crush them a bit with your spoon.
Pour in your stock to hush the pot and deglaze all those yummy brown bits. Toss in the tortellini. Give it a stir and let it go on medium low until it comes to a low boil, then turn it down to simmer and add in the chopped spinach and kale. Let it continue to simmer, covered, until you’re ready to serve.
