"Cheesy" Tortellini Soup

S O U P, 1,2,3, 4-minutes of prep time and you have SOUP! Great soup! Comforting soup!  Mmm...

This recipe was created by a family friend, a busy professional, taking gourmet classes in the evening.  The homework assignment:

Create a recipe that uses off-the-shelf ingredients, straight from the packaging.

And here it is, a recipe that uses ingredients straight from the package with almost no preparation.  Resulting in a "kit - soup" that will take ~4 minutes of prep time and serve 4-6.

Perfect for busy, hungry people!

Step 1: Ingredients

Use ingredients "off-the-shelf".  Quantities reflect typical units of sale.  Standard measurements are included for convenience.

1. (3 tbsp) Olive Oil
2. (1 tbsp) Chopped Garlic
3. 50 fl-oz. can of Chicken Broth (~8 cups)
4. 15 fl-oz. can of Chopped Stew Tomatoes( ~2¹/₂ cups)
5. 10 oz. package of Chopped Frozen Spinach(~2 cups)
6. (1 tsp) Basil
7. 8 oz. package of Dry Cheese Tortellini(~1¹/₂ cups)
8. (¹/₄ cup) Grated Parmesan Cheese

Ingredients #'s 1,2,6 and 8 are only sold in units larger than necessary.

Step 2: Garlic Saute

• Put the oil^#1 in a large soup pot on medium heat.
• Open the can of Chicken Stock^#3, but leave aside for now.
• Add in the garlic^#2 and saute until brown.  This will happen fast, so take a precious extra minute to avoid burning the garlic.
• Quench! the saute by dumping the Chicken Stock^#3 into the pot.

Step 3: Add Stocks

• Add the stew tomatoes^#4.
• Add the spinach^#5.
• Add the basil^#6.
• Bring to a boil.
• Cover and reduce to simmer for 30 minutes.  Avoid boiling off the soup.

Step 4: Toss in Tortellini

• Add the tortellini^#7.
• Add the Parmesan cheese^#8.
• Recover and simmer another 20-30 minutes, until the tortellini is finished (rehydrated).

Step 5: Soups On!

Done, but before eating, allow the soup to cool.  The spinach and oil conspire to trap super-heated water.  A bit of venting is necessary to release the trapped energy.

Enjoy with hearty bread and rich butter. Skip the sour cream.

Serve extra Parmesan cheese on the side, rather than adding during cooking.

You can use more tortellini, but you're risking a stew, in my experience.

Reduce the amount of sodium in the soup by using (in order of magnitude):

- - - - Sodium-free chicken stock,
  - - - Provolone cheese,
    - - Natural stew tomatoes,
      - Fresh or Frozen Tortellini

This soup does not freeze well, but will refrigerate for a few days. The flavors improve a bit after 24 hours.  The real genius of this recipe- it's a "kit".  Stock the ingredients and enjoy fresh when you want. 

Cooking... proactively, what every busy person wants to do!