Tortellini Soup with Italian Sausage and Kale

Sometimes I feel like Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi. It’s not that I would kick you out of my restaurant just for ordering
incorrectly, especially since I don’t own a restaurant (there is just too much work and too much risk of failure in the
restaurant business). However, I do know how to make and have recipes for all of the “Soup Nazi” soups that
Seinfeld, Kramer, George and Elaine loved. Here is a claim you guys will just have to accept for the moment – I make
a really nice Mulligatawny Soup.
You don’t like Mulligatawny?

Maybe I’ll share that recipe later but for today, I will try to help you guys achieve major soup chef status in your family
with a great recipe for a tasty soup they will love. This Tortellini Soup with Italian Sausage and Kale is a good one to
put into your “do again” dinner rotation. It has lots of eye appeal, great flavor, is satisfying, filling and something
different. All of these are good checkmarks when looking for something to cook for dinner.
Soups have been a part of the dinner rotation at our house for most of the 52 years the wife and I have been married.
There are recipes we go back to time after time because we both like them and how satisfying they are for dinner.
Our favorite soups and stews include, Momma Bear Soup, Beef with Barley soup, several Chicken with vegetables
soups and stews, Beef Stew, Thai Tom Kha Gai, several Thai Curries, white beans with ham or sausage, Creole
Shrimp Stew, and gumbo (I know gumbo is not a soup or stew. It is gumbo!). Now that I have you upset by
mentioning gumbo in the same sentence with soups and stews, I’ll alsothrow in beef chili and white chili as favorites.
Someday, I’ll get around to some of these that I’ve mentioned. Today, though, let’s talk about as good of an Italian
soup as you might want to make.

Italian Sausage and Kale Tortellini Soup

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

8-12 ounces Italian sausage links, casings removed, or bulk Italian sausage
1 Tablespoon Fennel (added to sausage before cooking)
1 medium onion, coarse chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 pint chicken broth, or more
1 cup water, more or less
1 or 2 chicken bouillon cubes, or a heaping spoon of Better than Bouillon Chicken broth paste
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
4 ounces dry parmesan cheese tortellini
4-6 ounces fresh Kale, coarsely chopped (ok to substitute fresh baby spinach if desired)
1 teaspoon dried basil or 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 or 2 pinches of crushed red pepper flakes (more if you like it Spicy Hot)
2 ounces Shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Gather the ingredients. I always try to use good wine when I add it. I show spinach here, because I had
no kale the day I took these photos. Here is rough and smooth leaf Kale we grow for cooking use. Thank
you 17° weather for wiping out our kale crop this year.
First, remove the casings from sausages, and add a little extra the fennel seed to the sausage. Mix well

Cook the sausage in the pan you will use for the soup
It helps to completely cook the sausage and get some caramelization, which adds flavor. Break the
sausage apart and add the chopped onion. Then add the garlic and cook until the onion is tender.

Add the tomatoes, with their liquid and deglaze the pan. Then add the chicken broth (frozen here) and a
splash of red wine
Add the chicken bouillon cube (broken to help it dissolve) and bring to a boil. A heaping spoon of Better
than Bouillon also works.

Add the water, basil, black pepper and red pepper flakes.
Since it is dry, the tortellini will need additional time to cook. Fresh Tortellini is usually available in the
freezer or maybe refrigerated foods section at the grocery and I sometimes use either of those, since
they cook more quickly. Stir the tortellini into the soup.

While the tortellini is cooking, chop the kale, or spinach. The tortellini will need 7-9 minutes to cook and
will begin thickening the soup as it cooks.
When the tortellini is cooked to al dente tenderness, add the kale or spinach and shredded parmesan.
As I have said several times, you can use either spinach or kale, but if you are brave enough to try kale,
you will like it in this soup, or any soup recipe that calls for a green leaf ingredient. The chopped kale or
spinach will begin to change color immediately when added.

Remove the soup from the heat and cover with a lid for 5-10 minutes.
Serve in a nice soup bowl. Having crusty bread on hand to soak up the liquid is nice.
The recipe makes enough soup for 4 servings.

You can increase the recipe to meet your serving needs and store any uneaten soup in the refrigerator.
However, the tortellini will take up a lot of the liquid while being held in the refrigerator overnight and
some additional water or chicken broth may need to be added if reheating stored tortellini soup. I would
not freeze this soup.

This soup has a bright, Italian sausage flavor with the wonderful parmesan flavor of tortellini, plus the
added layer of parmesan flavor from the additional parmesan added as a thickener. It has always been a
crowd pleaser at our house.

Enjoy.