italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup (Photos)

Here is a good recipe for a great Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup. Has a savory flavor and a wonderful broth.



YIELD: 3 servings, as shown

Ingredients

12 ounces Italian turkey sausage links, casings removed
1 1/2 Tablespoons Fennel (added to sausage before cooking)
1 medium onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 pint chicken broth
1 cup water
2-3 Tablespoons Red Wine
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
3 ounces dry cheese tortellini
3 ounces fresh baby spinach, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil or 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Dash crushed red pepper flakes
2 ounces Shredded Parmesan cheese







More on this next photo later:



Directions

Remove the casings from sausages, press flat and add the fennel seed to the sausage.



Mix well



Cook the sausage in the pan you will use for the soup



It helps to completely cook the sausage to get some caramelization on the meat and in the pot.



Break the sausage apart. Add the chopped onion, garlic



and cook until the onion is tender.



Add the tomatoes, with juice and deglaze the pan.



Add the chicken broth and 2 tablespoons of good red wine. I used frozen chicken stock in this recipe and partially defrosted it in the microwave.



Add the chicken bouillon cube (Shaved to help it dissolve) with the water and bring to a boil.



Add the basil, black pepper and red pepper flakes.



Since it is dry, the pasta will need additional time to cook. Fresh Tortellini will cook more quickly.



Add the tortellini and stir it into the soup.



While the tortellini is cooking, chop the spinach.



The tortellini will need 7-9 minutes to cook and will begin thickening the soup as it cooks.



When the tortellini is al dente, add the spinach and shredded parmesan.



The spinach will begin to change color immediately.



At some point in the cooking I decided I had not added enough Italian sausage to my soup. To fix that I used some precooked Italian sausage from the freezer and adjusted the quantities on my recipe to what is shown at the top.



The frozen sausage was already cooked and only needed to be brought to temperature in the soup.



The spinach cooks very quickly so as soon as it is added, Remove the soup from the heat and cover with a lid for 5-10 minutes.



Makes a pretty pot of soup that smells great.



And makes a nice presentation



Serve in a shallow dish.



The recipe makes enough soup for 3 servings. You can increase the recipe to meet your serving needs and store any uneaten soup in the refrigerator. However, the tortellini will take up most of the liquid while being held in the refrigerator overnight and some additional water will need to be added if reheating stored soup.



This soup has a bright, Italian sausage flavor with the wonderful parmesan flavor of tortellini, plus the added layer of parmesan flavor provided by the additional parmesan added as a thickener.

Enjoy.



Thanks for looking. God Bless you.