Wait, make that “Tortellini-Are-Little-Puffs-of-Heaven and Italian Sausage Stew.” Kind of a long name, though. I’ll work on it.
It’s been a very soup-y fall for me, for a couple of reasons. 1)Fall just seems to need soup. I don’t know what it is but for some reason, fall is a soup season. 2)Soup recipes make a lot and it’s great for pouring leftovers into a jar and taking it work a couple days for lunch. 3)I rarely made soup before last year because I was convinced I was a failure at it. I’m not nearly as nervous now. Clearly if I can do, any idiot can. But I repeat myself.
This is one of my new favorite stews because it has everything in it that’s yummy. Cheese tortellini. Italian sausage. Spinach. Tomatoes. Garlic. Parmigiano. I feel warm and fuzzy just thinking about it. I took some to work for lunch today and no joke, sat at my desk just slowly savoring the yumminess in a happified stupor. Happified wasn’t even a word before this soup came along. So there you go.
[toggle title_open=”How do you fold homemade tortellini?” title_closed=”How do you fold homemade tortellini?” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Interested in making your own tortellini? Maybe you’ve got the pasta part down but aren’t sure how to fold the little shapes. This quick little video below will show you how:[/toggle]
Note: This makes an excellent meal with maybe a small salad beforehand, a good chunk of bread drizzled with olive oil and herbs and a slice of plum tart with a dollop of whipped cream for dessert.
Ingredients
- 1 pound hot or sweet Italian sausage (I used 1/2lb of both)
- 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 large celery spears, diced
- 3 large or 4 small-medium carrots, diced
- 1/2 tbsp dried sage
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 tbsp butter
- 4 tbsp flour
- 32 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
- 64oz chicken stock
- 1 lb your choice of cheese tortellini
- 2 oz grated parmigiano reggiano and/or any leftover rind
- 3-4 cups fresh baby spinach
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Brown the sausage in 1 tbsp of olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Remove sausage from pan and let drain on some paper towels.
- Add second tbsp of olive oil into pan. Add in onion, celery, carrots and dried sage. Sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add in garlic and sauté another minute or two.
- Add in the butter and let it melt down before adding in 4 tbsp of flour. Stir everything together until the flour is totally incorporated.
- Cook for 1-2 minutes and then add the sausage back in, followed by the tomatoes and then the chicken stock.
- Let simmer for about 45 minutes. Add in tortellini, spinach, the cheese, and (if using) the leftover rind from the parmigiano. Add in salt and pepper as needed.
- Let cook and meld together for another 15 minutes or so. (If you put the cheese rind in, remove it at the end of the cooking time).
