Tomato Tortellini Soup

Can we have a moment of honesty here? I swear, I started with a recipe. Then...thennnnn....I got adventurous. I added. I added. I ADDED. Let's try and recall what I did, shall we? This should be a fun game.


You might need:
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of tomato sauce
4 cups of chicken broth
1 cup of milk
Mayhap a splash of beef stock
1 stalk of celery
1 small onion
1 carrot
1/4 cup of flour
1 - 2 cups of cooked chicken
1 small package of cheese tortellini.
2 cloves of garlic
3-5 thyme stems
2 bay leaves
Plenty of salt and pepper

Maybe. That's what I remember anyway. Moral of the story: this is more of a technique then an actual recipe. Nonetheless, it was a DELICIOUS experiment.

First, you want to create a base for the soup. In french cooking, the combination of onion, celery, and carrots is called a mirepoix. Basically, it's magical. The sum is far greater than it's humble parts.

So, chop up your celery, carrot, and onion.


And saute in a bit of olive oil. Use a big pot. Especially if you're prone to adding. Don't look at me.


Then, my pictures jump from the saute above, to this:



So, let's piece together what I did.

First, add the flour and mix it with the vegetables until they're all coated. This will act as a thickening agent. Now, you can dump in your broth and milk. Allow that to cook for about 5 - 10 minutes until it reduces a little and thickens up. Then, add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce for a good tomato flavor. Add your garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and bay leaves. Taste it at this point. Do you want to tinker with it? It's all about what you like. Feel free to throw in vegetables, some spinach would be really good in this. Or some green beans! I'm pretty sure this is the point I threw in the towel though.

Bring the soup to a boil, and throw in the chicken and tortellini for 8 - 10 minutes, until it's warm.


Serve up a big bowl with your favorite crusty bread.



Feel free to burn the bread while you're tinkering with the broth too. It's what the cool kids are doing.


Enjoy!

<3 Courtzilla