Sunday, March 20, 2011

The best tortellini soup ever!

I really thought I had "host a dinner party" on my list of Saturday Night activities, but the closest I could find was "invite friends over," and that's exactly what happened this weekend.  When I had surgery in February, my mom made tortellini soup, and it was easy, tasty, and a 1-dish meal.  So, I thought, I'll invite some girlfriends over (since Captain America was spending the weekend watching the Big Dance), and I'll make soup and we'll have some wine and chit-chat, and it'll be good fun.  This is a great soup to serve a bunch of people because it makes a lot, but it doesn't keep quite so well because the tortellinis continue to retain water (I'm not sure that's the best culinary wording) and start to expand and get soggy and fall apart if you keep it in the fridge too long.  So all of my girlfriends were sent home with lunch for the next day!  Everybody wins!

Here's the recipe:
1 can chick peas, drained
2 small cans stewed tomatoes with juice
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
32 oz chicken broth (I used vegetable broth)
5 cups water
1 package fresh baby spinach
1 package cheese tortellini
minced garlic
1 package sweet and 1 package hot sausage (or, 32oz sausage)

Method:
  1. Cook sausage out of casing with garlic in large stockpot, crumbling the sausage while cooking.  Drain the sausage.
  2. Add stewed tomatoes, chick peas, mustard, chicken broth, and water to stock pot.
  3. Add tortellini and baby spinach to stock pot, and cook until spinach is wilted and tortellini is done (don't bring to a boil).
Ta da! That's it.  I used all sweet sausage because I don't like too much spice, but if I had a cold, I would use medium or hot sausage to help clear out my sinuses.  And everyone will thing you're a genius!

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