Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup

Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup

4 links sweet or hot Italian-style sausage, casings removed (see photos below)

1-2 onions, chopped

3-4 garlic cloves, pressed or finely chopped

6 cups water

3 beef bouillon cubes

3/4 lb chopped fresh tomatoes (we usually use plum tomatoes)

1 8-ounce can plain tomato sauce

1 large zucchini, cut into chunks

3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 green bell pepper, chopped coarsely

1/2 cup dry red wine

1 Tbsp dried basil

1 Tbsp dried oregano

-----------------

8-16 ounces frozen cheese tortellini

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Remove casings from the sausages, then fry in a large pot with a little oil until cooked through, breaking up the sausages with a spatula as you fry them. Transfer sausage to a separate bowl and pour off most of the sausage fat left in the pot (leave ~1 Tbsp of fat or so).

[CK note: If you really want to go low fat, you can drain all the fat from the pot and strain the sausage under hot water, then add a Tablespoon or so of olive oil back to the pan before the next step.] 

Saute onion and garlic on medium heat in the remaining sausage oil for ~5 minutes. Then, add back the sausage, and add all of the remaining ingredients except the tortellini and Parmesan cheese (water, bouillon cubes, tomatoes, tomato sauce, zucchini, carrots, green pepper, red wine, basil and oregano).

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for ~40 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Then add tortellini to the soup and simmer for another 8 minutes.

Serve in soup bowls, sprinkled generously with parmesan cheese.

Serves 6+ easily.

recipe resource here

retweet post here
shared on facebook here

shared at these blog hops, parties and linkups
saturday sharefest 

shared at these facebook group linkups
RT club ---- 2/18 ---- 1 rt