Friday Recipe: Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini

Another Friday, another soup. What can I say, weather on the east coast has been cold, wet, and windy. I needed to warm up somehow! Soup with Italian sausage did the job.

Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cook Time: 1 Hour 15 Minutes

Ready In: 1 Hour 35 Minutes Servings: 8

Ingredients:

1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed 1 cup chopped onion 2 cloves garlic, minced 5 cups beef broth 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup red wine 4 large tomatoes - peeled, seeded and

chopped 1 cup thinly sliced carrots 1/2 tablespoon packed fresh basil leaves 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce 1 1/2 cups sliced zucchini 8 ounces fresh tortellini pasta 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1.	In a 5 quart Dutch oven, brown sausage. (I don't happen to have a Dutch oven so used a skillet. There was no difference. At all.) Remove sausage and drain, reserving 1 tablespoon of the drippings.
2.	Saute onions and garlic in drippings. Stir in beef broth, water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, basil, oregano, tomato sauce, and sausage. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
3.	Skim fat from the soup. Stir in zucchini and parsley. Simmer covered for 30 minutes. Add tortellini during the last 10 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese on top of each serving.