Chicken Tortellini Soup

This dish started out as a quick easy meal for a busy night.  Some chicken broth, frozen tortellini, onions, carrots, spinach, throw in some crusty bread and you've got dinner.  You know that's all fine and good, and while canned chicken broth may do in a pinch, I've gotten to the point where it wont do at all.  If you have the time, make your own.  It's very simple and is best done with the last of a roasted turkey or chicken, but when that's not what's in your fridge, take a few chicken wings and use those.  Lots of good skin and bones for flavor and just the right amount of meat for soup.

Okay I'm getting ahead of myself, so please don't let my food snobbery stop you from making this with canned broth. It still makes a easy and quick weeknight dinner.  But if you have the time, try it with homemade stock; you may never go back. In that case it's not a quick weeknight meal unless you happen to have homemade stock in the freezer, which I suggest.

Chicken Tortellini Soup

Stock
8 chicken wings or roasted chicken carcass
1 gallon water
1 onion roughly chopped
2 carrots roughly chopped
2 stalks celery roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
generous amount of salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon sage or to taste
several fresh sprigs of thyme
3 cloves garlic smashed

Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion diced
6-8 cups stock or canned chicken broth
2 carrots peeled and sliced in 1/8 disks
3-4 cups fresh or frozen cheese tortellini
6-8 ounces fresh spinach roughly chopped
reserved chicken meat
freshly shredded Parmesan cheese for garnish


For the stock add all ingredients to a stock pot and bring to a low boil, turn down heat to low an allow to simmer.  After about 1 1/2 hours use a slotted spoon to pull out the chicken pieces,  Remove the meat and store it in the refrigerator for later.  Return everything else back to the pot.  Simmer a few hours longer.  Use a fine mesh strainer to strain the stock into another pot for the soup or to a large container for storage.  Discard all the material in the strainer. If you have time this is the best method because once the stock has cooled you can go back in and skim the solidified fat from the surface.

For the soup, in a large stock pot, saute onion in oil until soft.  Add the stock.(Note: if using canned broth add some sage, thyme, garlic etc to pump up the
flavor a bit). Add the carrots and bring to a boil.  Add the tortellini and simmer until the tortellini are done.  Add the spinach and chicken meat.  Once the spinach is limp turn off heat.  Let set until ready to serve.  Garnish with Parmesan and serve with some crusty bread,