Italian Tortellini Soup
This is a favorite in our house. I make it every year for New Years Eve. I make a double batch so that we dont have to fight over the leftovers.
This is a favorite in our house. I make it every year for New Years Eve. I make a double batch so that we dont have to fight over the leftovers.
- 1/2 cup water
- parmesan cheese
- 1 pound italian sausage
- 5 cups beef broth
- 3 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- 2 cloves garlic sliced
- 1 1/2 cups zucchini sliced
- 8 oz. can tomato sauce
- 1 cup onions coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup dry red wine or water
- 2 cups (4 medium) tomatoes chopped, seeded, peeled
- 1 cup carrots thinly sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon basil leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano leaves
- 8 oz. (2 cups) frozen meat or cheese-filled tortellini (or ravioli)
- 1 medium green pepper cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- Carbohydrate 23.4194592708333 g
- Cholesterol 56.667 mg
- Fat 20.9610895833333 g
- Fiber 3.08893336858476 g
- Protein 16.2811465625 g
- Saturated Fat 7.98941613541667 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (425g)
- Sodium 1202.09652083333 mg
- Sugar 20.3305259022486 g
- Trans Fat 1.41073985416667 g
- Calories 356 calories
Step-by-step
- If sausage comes in casing, remove casing.
- In 5-quart Dutch oven, brown sausage.
- Remove sausage from Dutch oven; reserve 1 tablespoon drippings in Dutch oven.
- Saute onions and garlic until onions are tender.
- Add beef broth, water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, basil, oregano, tomato sauce and sausage.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat; simmer uncovered 30 minutes.
- Skim fat from soup.
- Stir in zucchini, tortellini, parsley and green pepper.
- Simmer covered an additional 35-40 minutes or until tortellini are tender.
- Top with Parmesan cheese.
Italian sausage anchors this entire preparation, yielding rendered fat that builds the foundation for sautéing aromatics and browning the meat directly in a five-quart Dutch oven. Because aromatics like onions and garlic release moisture quickly when salted, managing heat correctly prevents scorching while drawing out natural sugars to balance the acidity of the tomato sauce and dry red wine. Understanding how different ingredients behave under heat allows home cooks to sequence additions precisely, ensuring root vegetables soften alongside the broth while delicate items remain intact.
- Brown the Italian sausage thoroughly over medium heat and reserve precisely one tablespoon of drippings to sauté the onions and garlic, which imparts savory depth without overwhelming the soup with excess grease.
- Simmer the initial broth mixture uncovered for thirty minutes to concentrate flavors and reduce excess liquid before introducing the pasta.
- Stir in the zucchini, green pepper, parsley, and frozen tortellini during the final stage, covering the pot to steam the pasta evenly without turning it into mush over the subsequent thirty-five to forty minutes.
- Refrigerate the completed soup in an airtight container for up to three days, noting that the pasta will continue to absorb liquid as it sits, which benefits the overall texture by marrying the starches into a thicker, richer broth by the second day.
Subsequent days often improve complex broths as proteins relax and flavors meld together completely in cold storage. Adjusting the liquid level with an extra splash of water or beef broth during reheating brings the consistency back to ideal levels.
