The first time I had this soup was at my friend Melissa's house. I believe she made it in her crock pot and it was very tasty and brothy. My version comes out a bit heartier -more like a stew and makes a wonderful meal for our family with plenty left over. We have made it many times since Melissa was so kind as to share the recipe with me. I usually just get some nice crusty bread to serve with it, something with some flavor like an olive oil bread, a potato rosemary bread, foccacia of some sort or a sourdough. I hope you enjoy it - it is a favorite in our house!
Tortellini Minestrone
Pamela Smith, Flushing NY – From Taste of Home Magazine
1.25 lbs. Italian turkey links, casing removed
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
6.5 cups low sodium beef broth
1 can (12 – 14 0z) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups thinly sliced carrots
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
2 cups sliced zucchini
1 medium green pepper, chopped
2 cups frozen cheese tortellini
¼ cup minced fresh parsley
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, cook sausage and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add the broth, tomatoes, carrots, celery, ketchup and Italian seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
Add the zucchini and green pepper; cook 5 to 7 minutes longer or until green pepper is tender. Stir in tortellini and parsley. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; cook uncovered for 5 minutes or until tortellini is tender. Sprinkle with cheese just before serving.
Yield - 9 servings
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So that is the original recipe. Here is what I did to it this time: First, instead of the sausage, it had homemade mini meatballs in it.
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| The Raw |
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| And The Cooked |
This was a special request from my Husband and I had the time so it was no biggie but in the past I have also added left over diced up roast beef, or frozen mini meatballs, regular sweet Italian sausage in place of the turkey sausage. We have also used the Italian style turkey sausage product, it is healthier and tasty but I generally will go for what we have handy in the house. I also add other veggies we happen to have around broccoli, green beans, etc. I love adding fresh herbs if I have them around, fresh rosemary from my huge rosemary bush always goes in. What I like to do is pull out all the items I want to include in the soup and just pile them on the counter and start adding them at the appropriate stages.
I started with the recipe as stated and sauteed the onions and the garlic.
Then after those are tender add the broth, tomatoes, carrots, celery, ketchup (the ketchup to me is the magic ingredient. It adds a nice tang to the broth) and Italian seasonings - now, I don’t buy Italian seasoning since I have a cupboard full of herbs and spices so I generally add some oregano, basil, rosemary and fresh ground black pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes or until vegetables are tender. You might notice I had green beans on the counter. I added those at this stage too.
It is very flexible. As I said, this is a good clean out the refrigerator type recipe so you have a little leverage to get creative here. This time we happened to have a little left over tomato sauce hanging around in the fridge so that went in too.
The product next to the sauce is one I LOVE. It is called Better Than Bouillon and it makes nice flavored broths for soups. I love it because those little jars yield a lot of broth without me having to keep a bunch of cans or cartons of broth in my small amount of pantry space, they are economical because you can make lots of broth from those small jars and they do not have any MSG in them like regular bouillon cubes or granules do. My preference is the Costco version of this product. They carries a larger jar in an organic variety that I do not usually see at the supermarket. I used these in place of the beef broth in the recipe. If you see it I would highly recommend trying this product.
After those veggies have been cooking about 25 minutes add you tender veggies, zucchini & peppers. I also like to add a legume - cannellini beans, red kidney beans or chick peas to make it more minestrone like.These are canned. Be sure to rinse them first. If you'd like to use dried beans you will need to hydrate them overnight the night before you make the soup.
I added the meatballs at this stage also. After about 10 minutes when the zucchini & pepper are tender add the parsley and tortellini. We like extra soup so I make a huge batch with extra tortellini in it – we buy the tortellini at Costco which has two pillow packs, I use one of those packs. If you want it to come out big & hearty I would opt for the family size package of fresh tortellini I’ve seen at the grocery store. After the tortellini plumps up a bit you may have a thick delicious soup, that's a little too thick!
If you like it that way - great! Dig in! Otherwise add another cup or two of water or broth. The soup is ready to enjoy! We sprinkle it with Parmesan cheese and it you really want to get decadent give it a drizzle of pesto sauce on top. I really encourage you to make this soup your own. It can be easily modified to a vegetarian version as by leaving out the meat and switching to vegetable broth or more diabetic friendly by switching to 1/2 c. tomato paste and a couple of tablespoons of Spenda in place of the ketchup as well as whole wheat pasta or whole wheat tortellini which I have seen at the grocery store. I hope your family enjoys this recipe as much as mine does. It has quickly become a favorite in our home!
