Sausage and Spinach Tortellini Soup

My take: My GF had a cold and wanted some soup sometime around Halloween this year. Simply put this masterpiece has become my favorite fall soup of all time so lets get into how to make it, but first ill give some quick details so you can decide if these are really the flavors you and yours (or just you) want in your feast.

Flavor profile: Creamy and savory a little bit of cream was added at the end and the base is chicken broth, mildly-moderately cheesy from the tortellini which has cheese and parmesan flakes added, moderately hearty from the meat, spicy/not spicy depends on the sausage type used and how much red pepper flakes you add, tomatoey but nothing like a red sauce (not sure if its a word or not haha) from the concentrate added and actual crushed tomatoes in it.

Pairs with:
-Bread/baguette it just soaks up the soup and pairs perfectly.
-Cider I drank Ace craft cider which I believe is perfect to drink with this soup as its a little on the sweeter end and almost adds to the savory and creamy flavor of the soup
-Medium to Sweet wine- the sweetness adds to the flavors and supports the palate instead of blunting it/ ruining the flavors.

Cook and Prep time: 30-45 minutes
-depends on how fast you cut vegetables and your cookware. I tend to take my sweet time so I take a little closer to 40 ish minutes.

COOKWARE:
-I used a 4 quart dutch oven by staub which I love but you could use any pot 4 quarts or more and NO lid needed!
-Wooden spoon or something to stir
-cooked on stovetop

INGREDIENTS: (Serves roughly 4 normal people as you get roughly 4 proper bowls out of this, you will be stuffed by the end of bowl two)
- 1 pound of mild or spicy italian sausage without the casing (or you remove it yourself). Obviously don't use spicy if you don't want spicy!!!!!!
-1 quart of chicken stock
-1/3- 1/2 cup heavy cream depends on how much you wanna use. For less calories use less heavy cream. I used roughly 1/3 cup
-1 (around 14 ounces) can crushed tomatoes I used Mur glen fire roasted crushed tomatoes
-2 tablespoons tomato paste
-6 cloves of minced garlic
-1 med-large chopped yellow onion
-1 quick circle around the pot with low sodium soy sauce OR 2 teaspoons of salt I used the soy sauce for a touch of umami/ savory
-10 oz of Tortellini of your choosing (mine had cheese and spinach in it)
-2-4 handfuls of spinach
-2 tablespoons Italian seasoning (OPTIONAL)
-1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (OPTIONAL)
-Parmeasan cheese (OPTIONAL)

LETS MAKE THIS THING:

1. Prepare all your ingredients so chop the onion, mince the garlic, have your soy sauce or salt ready, you get the idea. I hate scrambling for stuff hence I recomend preparing everything

2. Stovetop to Medium-High heat (on electric stovetop around 7/10 ish). Add the Sausage(without casing!) and onions and use your spoon to break apart the sausage. At 3 minutes or so add your garlic and mix it in. This step is complete when the onions are softer/ becoming translucent. 10 minutes MAX for this step. Drain off the fat from the sausage.

3. Mix in the crushed tomatoes, chicken stock, tomatoe paste, salt/soy sauce, italian seasoning (if you are using it). Once boiling reduce the heat to simmer level (around 3/10 ish). You want a light boil. Simmer for roughly 15-20 minutes uncovered. The fluid level will go down a little and thats okay!

4. Add the tortillini, spinach, and cream and pepper flakes(if you are using it) and cook another 5 ish minutes until the tortillini is warmed through and the spinach is looking wet and wilted. If you have a dutch oven it retains heat well so maybe shut the heat off two minutes or so into this step.

5. Plate and top off with some parmeasan cheese (if you are using it). Let it cool in the bowl for 5 ish minutes before eating because it will be super hot! I recommend to serve with bagette or sourdough or some type of bread (obviously NOT white bread/sandwhich bread).

NUTRITION/FINAL POINTS

• So the macros depend on what you use. I can say the big calorie/macros in this are the sausage, pasta, tortellini, cream, cheese. If you are trying to cut/ keep the weight down use less cream (like 1/3 cup), skip the cheese at the end or use less, drain the sausage fat/liquid after cooking it or buy lower fat sausage. If you are trying to manage salt intake..... I don't know what to really say here, maybe try low sodium chicken stock? Perhaps don't add soy sauce or salt to the soup and just add however much you think you need per your palate at the end?
• We all have different tastes for example my gf doesn't like spicy but I do. Adding a little more or less of something is okay! You do you.
• If you have any recommendations leave a comment below!