Rustic Italian Tortellini Soup

This recipe combines three of my favorites - soup, garlic, and tortellini - into one delightful meal. What could be better? I also love how the faint aroma of garlic lingers in the air for the rest of the evening, even after the soup's been stowed away in the fridge. For the tortellini, even though I'm usually a store brand kind of girl, I like using the Louisa brand (I get it at my local Wal-Mart). Louisa tortellini tastes excellent and at less than $3 for a bag doesn't cost much more than the store brand. I realized when I was typing the recipe up just now, that I forgot to chop my spinach before throwing it into the soup. So that step is not really necessary, except for those that don't like big pieces of spinach floating around in the broth.

This also makes quite a bit of soup, which is great for freezing. I have a nice container tucked away in my freezer right next to some of the Lentil Vegetable Soup that I fixed a few weeks ago.

The original recipe calls for Italian turkey sausage which admittedly is a delicious addition, but I usually skip that to make the recipe less expensive and lower in calories. But that's just me... so I've included optional instructions should you desire to include sausage.


Rustic Italian Tortellini Soup

1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cups onion, medium diced
12 cloves garlic, minced
7 cups chicken or vegetable broth
3-1/2 cups water
2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 bag (20 ounces) frozen tortellini
1 bag (9 to 12 ounces) fresh baby spinach, coarsely chopped
1-1/2 teaspoons dried basil or 4-1/2 teaspoons fresh minced basil
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

In a large pot, cook the onions with olive oil over medium-low heat until onions begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add the broth, water, and tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Add the tortellini and simmer for about 5 minutes (test a tortellini for doneness). Stir in the spinach, basil, pepper, and pepper flakes and simmer for an additional 3 minutes or until spinach is wilted. Serve with grated or shredded Parmesan cheese. Yields 8 to 10 servings.

Optional sausage version:
Remove the casings from 1-1/2 pounds of Italian turkey sausage and place sausage in a pot with the diced onion. Omit the olive oil. Cook, breaking up the sausage as you go, over medium heat until sausage is no longer pink. Add the garlic and proceed to follow the remaining directions in the recipe above. Yields 10 to 12 servings.

Recipe adapted from Healthy Cooking October/November 2008.