All Souped Up – My Mealku Recipe

Soups are one of my favorite foods throughout the year! With the right ingredients, you can have the perfect one-pot meal with protein, vegetables, and carbs. With the Northeast Fall / Winter already hitting NYC hard this year with Sandy and Nor’easter, it has left many of my fellow New Yorkers cold & hungry.

During the aftermath of Sandy, without transit, I struggled to find a way to help our friends in Brooklyn / downtown – I especially wanted to contribute the way I know best, by cooking and feeding! Kid you not, soon after I arrived at my Upper West Side building I saw a flyer encouraging us “Uptown folks” to share a meal with our downtown neighbors at no cost!

The organization is MealKu – The Home Made Cooperative. I quickly signed up, posted my “signature” winter “Italian Sausage & Tortellini Soup”, received a confirmation email that it was “ordered” and got a call for next day pick-up. They provided me with the containers needed (4 of these nifty bags were more than enough for a 12 person soup – wow!!!) and delivered to Red Hook Initiative. Easy peasy – THANK YOU MEALKU!

Here’s the original recipe from Epicurious. This soup is incredibly flexible – I have made it with chicken stock, without green pepper, no dried herbs or parmesan cheese (for those who are lactose intolerant) and it is still fantastic! Below are my modifications – 6 servings. I would HIGHLY recommend using a mandolin slicer – here’s the one I use

INGREDIENTS

1 pound sweet Italian sausage casings removed
1 cup chopped onion
2 large garlic cloves, sliced
4 cups beef stock + 1 cup chicken stock
2 cups chopped tomatoes (about 3/4 pound OR to save time, you can also buy canned chopped tomatoes)
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 large zucchini, sliced
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
1 medium-sized green bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup dry red wine (don’t skip this! adds a wonderful layer of complexity and richness)
2 tablespoons dried basil

8 to 10 ounces purchased frozen cheese tortellini (I have also used mushroom ravioli, yum!)

PREPARATION

Roughly separate the sausage in chunks, sauté the Italian sausage in heavy Dutch oven (with a drizzle of olive oil) over medium-high heat until cooked through, crumbling with back of spoon, about 10 minutes.
Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to large bowl. Add onion and garlic to Dutch oven and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Return sausage to Dutch oven. Add stock, tomatoes, tomato sauce, zucchini, carrot, bell pepper, wine, basil.
Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 40 minutes. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.
Cook the amount of tortellini or pasta you would eat in a separate pot. Ladle soup into bowls. Add cooked tortellini and serve!

This soup can be prepared 2 days ahead (tastes better next day anyway), freezes and warms up fantastically for those single cooks out there.

What is your favorite winter soup?