Sausage Tortellini Soup Recipe

Growing up, there were certain days, we knew were soup days: New Year's Day, for one... A big pot of soup, no formal dinner time, just, wander in to the kitchen, and grab a bowl when you were hungry! As my kids were growing up, one tradition they started, was a Halloween Weekend Saturday Eve Party! Always, a costume party, but one thing we did was make soups. Some soups were staples at these parties: Sausage Tortellini, and a Butternut Squash Pear soup. After the kids went off to college, it morphed into a thanksgiving Weekend Saturday mini reunion where the kids would have all their friends over, to catch up. Since their friends and our kids loved this soup, it was often requested. In fact, some even came by early to learn how to make it.

Sausage Tortellini Soup
This is the soup we have served at all our Halloween parties. It’s a family tradition now, at all the after Thanksgiving mini reunions for our kids and their friends!

1 lb. sweet Italian sausage-casings removed
1 c. chopped onion
2 lg. garlic cloves-sliced
5 c. beef stock
2 c. chopped tomatoes (about 3/4 lb)
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 lg zucchini-grated (I use the food processor blade)
1-2 carrots grated
1/2 c. red wine
2 tblsp. dried basil
2 tblsp. oregano
8-10 oz. fresh or frozen tortellini
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Saute sausage until cooked through, crumbling with back of spoon. Transfer to large bowl. Use 1 tblsp. of drippings to saute onion and garlic. In large soup pot, add stock, tomatoes, tomato sauce, zucchini, carrot, wine, basil, oregano, sausage and onion/garlic mixture. Simmer about 40 minutes. Add tortellini to soup and cook until tender. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle with fresh grated Parmesan.