Roasted Tomato Tortellini Soup
One thing my mom would do when we were growing up is come up with a recipe and then make it AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN until she got it just right. I can’t even remember how many times I had her pork chops and roasted peppers with rice. I would groan the loudest, over-dramatic preteen groan when I saw the peppers sitting on the counter, ready for the oven. Even though I got sick of the recipe, when she finally figured it out - it became absolutely crave-able. I can’t tell you how much I would pay to have a big ol’ dish of those dumb pork chops and roasted peppers. I can smell them right now as I type this.
Well ladies, it’s true - we all do turn into our mothers. Even though the first time I made this soup (literally improvising as I went) and thought it was really, really good I went ahead and made it about 20 more times, continuously messing with the ratios of ingredients and different spices. I finally nailed it this past weekend, it tasted like I always imagined it should taste - and I realized why my mom would go through all that effort. Once you’ve worked out the recipe so that it’s the most delicious it can be for your loved ones, somehow that love and dedication gets cooked into the dish too. It’s pure magic.
Roasted Tomato Tortellini Soup
Serves 6, about 450 calories
Ingredients -
3 lbs Roma tomatoes (any other kind won’t be as creamy)
1/2 yellow onion
4 cloves of garlic
4 cups of chicken broth
26 oz strained tomatoes (my preferred brand is Pomi)
**Toni trick! Rinse the can/box/jar of tomatoes but don’t dump the tomato-water, keep it on hand to thin out the soup as needed
20 oz tortellini (pick any kind you want - I went with the 4 cheese from Buitoni)
1 tsp dried basil
2 tbsp olive oil (plus more for drizzling on tomtoes)
Salt and pepper to taste
Recipe -
Cut Roma tomatoes in half, drizzle with some good olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt
Roast tomatoes on a baking sheet at 450 degrees for 45 minutes
While the tomatoes are roasting, dice up 1/2 a yellow onion and 4 cloves of garlic and saute in 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven
When the onions start to turn translucent, add the 4 cups of chicken broth and turn heat to med-low
Let soup come to a simmer - if tomatoes are still roasting, turn heat to low and let lightly simmer
Once tomatoes are done, add to pot along with all the roasting juices
Use an immersion blender to blend tomatoes into simmering broth. Be careful of this step! It’s easy to lift the blender while it’s still whirring which will splatter HOT tomato soup on you. Make sure to place down, blend, let go of the button, lift up, repeat. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can dump the tomatoes and pan juices in your blender and then add that to your simmering broth. I like the immersion blender method because it gets all the chunky onion and garlic incorporated
Add 1 tsp of dried basil and 1 tsp of salt along with some fresh cracked black pepper, turn heat up to medium
When soup starts to boil, add tortellini and cook per package instructions
That’s it! Easy peasy tomato squeezy!
notes: it’s super easy to make this vegan! Add some hefty-shaped egg-free pasta like jumbo shells or farfalle and use veggie broth instead of chicken