Sunday, December 18, 2011

Olive Gardens Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup

I wanted to make a soup that was similar to the Olive Garden so looked it up and found this one on someones blog-It is Delicious! It tastes very similar or better! Try it out! Love you all so much!

Italian Sausage and TortelliniSoup

1lb. sweet Italian Sausage, casing removed
1 cup onion, chopped
16 oz thinly sliced favorite mushrooms (I mix one 8oz package of white with 18oz package of baby bella)
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ cup dry red wine (I(Emily) used 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth and it turned out great still)
1/2 Tbsp. dried basil
1/2 Tbsp. dried oregano
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
6 cups beef broth or (6 beef bullion cubes and 6 cups water)
1 (16oz) can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
olive oil
2 medium zucchini, sliced
1 large carrot, thinly sliced (or a handful of baby carrots diced into chunks)
20 oz. fresh or 10oz dry cheese tortellini (I use
Buitoni's from the refridgerated section)

Sauté sausage, onion, and garlic in Dutch oven/large saucepan over med-highheat until cooked through. Add sliced mushrooms and olive oil (if necessary)and sauté until mushrooms begin to soften. Add spices and wine. Simmer forabout 10-15 minutes, allowing wine to reduce, stirring occassionally andscraping the bottom of the pan. (Sometimes I do this much the night before, andput it in the fridge overnight so that the flavors meld.) Add broth, tomatoes(with juice), tomato sauce, and carrots. Bring to a boil, reduce heat andsimmer 40 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. [At this point, soup may becovered and refrigerated for up to 2 days (or frozen for longer)---which allowsthe flavors to meld beautifully]. In a separate pan, sauté zucchini in oliveoil until soft. Return soup to boil, add sautéed zucchini and tortellini tosoup and cook until tortellini is tender: approximately 10-12 minutes. Seasonto taste with salt and pepper, garnish with sprinkled Parmesan cheese. Servewith thick-crusted bread (sourdough or Italian), and a glass of red wine if youlike. Enjoy!

Note:This soup is very forgiving, feel free to omit the veggies you do not like, addothers (like peppers), decrease the wine or substitute (when I made it thisweek, I realized I didn't have any red wine, so I used sparkling grape juiceand white cooking wine, it was a little sweeter than normal, but it worked),increase the garlic, adjust the amount of spices to your taste, add more liquidif it's too chunky (I like chunky!),...any way you make it, it's simply delicious!

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