Last week I was craving minestrone soup, but many of the vegetables that I use in it are not in season. Buying imported, out of season veggies would have greatly increased the cost of the dish, so I decided to replace them with something that is always in season: tortellini! 🙂
I reduced the cost of this soup, by using homemade chicken broth. I also used dry beans that I cooked from scratch. When you use dry beans you save about 75% off the price of canned beans. It is more time consuming that opening a can, but with my pressure cooker method I can batch cook a large amount in less than 1 1/2 hours. I realize that making homemade tortellini would have reduced the cost even further, but I cheated and used frozen cheese tortellini.
Alea’s Tortellini Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup onion, minced
- 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup carrots, julienned
- 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 3/4 cups black beans or 1 can of black beans (Or learn how to cook your own beans here.)
- 1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 1/2 teaspoons parsley
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon dried sage
- 2 – 3 cups cheese stuffed tortellini
- 3 cups fresh spinach
Directions
1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot. Add onion, celery, garlic, and carrots.
2. Sauté veggies in the oil for 5 minutes.
3. Add broth, tomatoes, beans, and spices to the pot. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add spinach leaves and tortellini and cook for an additional 5 minutes or until pasta is al dente and spinach is wilted.
Serves 4 – 6.
Karen Petersen says
yum! I love tortellinis!
My kids love this Italian Tortellini Soup…it is so good: http://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/2009/12/day-330-italian-tortellini-soup.html
Alea says
Karen, I was just thinking today that I had never had tortellini in a beef broth and wondered how it would taste. From your link it looks like a delicious combination! Thanks for sharing.
Melissa says
That soup looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
I’ve been making minestrone … only recently, but three times already. (I’m working on a blog post about it, but just haven’t pulled it all together yet.) Like you, I use dry beans and homemade broth.
Alea says
Melissa, Minestrone soup is addictive isn’t it? We are always sad when the leftovers are gone so I have to make another batch. 🙂 I look forward to seeing your take on this comfort food!
B says
this soup was AMAZINGLY good, thank you for sharing it! i replaced the beans with about 3/4 lb. of sausage and it added even more flavor! i also boiled the tortellini separately and added it to the soup at the end – in the past, i always run into problems adding uncooked pasta to soup because it soaks up all the liquid and i no longer have soup left! does anyone have this problem? anyway, thank you again, we all loved this at our home!
Alea says
Thank you! Your variation sounds amazing! Good tip on boiling the noodles separately. I haven’t had the problem with tortellini absorbing too much broth, but I have had other types of noodles do that before. thanks again, Alea
Kimberly says
This soup looks declicious! I am wondering though if this is a 5.00 meal? A bag of cheese tortellini where I live is 5-6 a bag.
Alea says
Kimberly,
Thank you! Yes, I was able to make this for under $5.00. I bought a 19 oz. bag of frozen cheese tortellini for $3.38 ( every day price, sometimes I can buy it on sale for less). I used half a bag which was a little over 2 1/2 cups so the tortellini cost $1.69.
Amanda says
Yum! This sounds great and seems easy enough that I could put it together during the week after a long day at work. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Susan B. says
Great recipe. I added a little thinly sliced andouille sausage for some spice and salt to taste at the very end. I would definitely make this again. Thanks!!
Alea Milham says
I am glad you liked. I bet the sausage made a delicious addition!
Mollie says
I made this tonight and it was YUM! Instead of the various spices, I just did several shakes of a dry Italian seasoning blend. I also wanted to say that I had to add 2 more cups of chicken broth because there wasn’t enough liquid with all the other goodies there. My husband who doesn’t even like tortellini ate it up! Success! 🙂