Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

By tulawdog

Ingredients

• Ingredients:
• 5 big tomatoes
• 1 small onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp basil oil
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 1/2 cup tomato broth
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 vegetable bouillon cube
• 2 14 oz cans pomodori tomatoes
• 1/2 cup tortellini
• pepper
• salt
• Garnish:
• 2 to max 3 tbsp oil
• handful fresh basil

Preparation

Step 1

The onion wasn’t part of the original recipe but come on people, it’s me, Kay! The onion-o-holic. I chopped a small onion and grated the garlic.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

You’ll be needing 5 big, plum, juicy tomatoes.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

Cut a shallow x at the bottom of each tomato and plunge them in hot water for a while, until the peel starts to curl at the x. Add them to a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

Peeling them is no rocket science now.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

Decapitate them, squeeze out their guts (try to get all the seeds out) and chop ‘em up. Somehow I managed to make a recipe instruction sound like a total massacre. Heh.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

Anyway.

Keep the tomato broth (or vegetable broth) 2 cans of pomodori tomatoes, tortellini and basil oil nearby. The original recipe calls for 2 tbsp basil oil but I decided to only add one and garnish the soup with a home-made basil oil.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

Use about a tbsp oil to sauté the onions until slightly translucent. Do not let them brown! If you won’t be making a fresh basil oil garnish use 1 tbsp commercial basil oil instead.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

As soon as the onions are translucent, add the garlic, chopped tomatoes and one tbsp basil oil. Lower the heat and simmer the tomatoes until they’ve reduced to 2/3 or 1/2 of what you started with. It should take about 15 minutes.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

Boil 1/2 to 1 cup tortellini (al dente) according to the instructions on the package in lightly salted water. I opted for cheese tortellini.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

As soon as the tomatoes have been reduced, it’s time to add the pomodori tomatoes, tomato broth, water, vegetable bouillon (cube) and a good pinch of black pepper.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

Marc added his dried basil and oregano 10 minutes before the soup was done. I only add fresh basil at the end otherwise it will go bitter. Dried herbs I always add at the start to get maximum flavor. I also added 2/3 tsp salt because my broth wasn’t salty. Simmer the soup over low heat for 20 to 30 minutes.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

Combine the fresh basil with 2 to max 3 tbsp oil. Blitz until you have a smooth concoction. Don’t bother cleaning your immersion blender or blender.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

Once the soup is done, transfer it to your blender or use your immersion blender until creamy. If you’re sure there are no tomato seeds in there or you can’t be bothered by a seed or two, eat it as is. Otherwise you might want to strain it first.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

Add the tortellini and give it a few more minutes to heat through. Check the seasoning.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

Garnish with a small basil leaf and pour some of the fresh basil oil on top. Oh boy, this is such an amazingly fragrant soup! The intense tomato flavor will blow you away.
Royal Pomodori and Tortellini Soup

The only thing I will do differently next time is make my own herbed goat cheese tortellini or crumble some goat cheese on top of the soup. You can garnish with cream, but flavor-wise it really doesn’t need it.