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.
How do you fold homemade tortellini?
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).
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