Tortellini Soup — Perfect for a Nippy January Day
When I overheard my son and his friends talking after school about the soup they were served at lunchtime that day, I did a double-take.
Soup? Boys aged 7-10 talking about how fantastic the soup was? What planet were we on?
I knew I had to have the recipe.
It turns out the ambrosia was made by Jaclyn Gelb, who is one of the “mom soup cooks” at a public school in Malibu, Calif. This enthusiastic band of good cooks volunteers to make soup each week, and serve it to the 350 students. It’s downright amazing the number of veggies and other nutritional goodies that will go down the hatch on soup day.
Jaclyn laughed when told that her soup was the subject of favorable gossip. “For reasons I can’t explain, this simple little soup makes everyone happy ♥ ,” she wrote in an e-mail to me. “It’s shockingly easy!”
She developed the soup with help from her own daughter, a 4th grader, who nixed tomatoes, but loved the natural sweetness of peas and corn. She said she was bowled over by the positive response. “It was ridiculous how much people loved this soup. The response was almost overwhelming! The whole cafeteria was crowded, and I heard in the hallway that the soup was good…people were telling each other to go get the soup. It was crazy!”
Crazy love for a soup sounds good to me! A bowl of this would be perfect for a nippy January day, and after the excesses of the holiday season, a just-right light touch for lunch or dinner.
Enjoy, and Happy New Year!
Jaclyn Gelb’s Tortellini Soup
Like many good cooks, Jaclyn eyeballs some of the amounts. For a casual soup like this, you can’t go wrong estimating – a handful of frozen peas, a handful of frozen corn, a big pinch of Parmesan…you get the idea.
For each serving:
- 8 ounces chicken broth or stock* (see note below)
- 1 cup cooked tortellini** (see note below)
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1/2 cup frozen corn
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (or more to taste)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- Generous sprinkle shaved or grated Parmesan cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Put all ingredients except basil and Parmesan in a pot and heat to boiling. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking. Ladle into bowls, topped with the chopped basil and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
Jaclyn Gelb
Jaclyn says, “This seriously takes about 10 minutes to make (for your family; making it at school takes longer simply because of the volume).”
*Jaclyn favors the convenient, tasty Savory Choice liquid broth concentrate, which comes in a box containing little packets to which you add hot water. It is available at Whole Foods and other grocery stores.
**If using fresh/uncooked OR dried/uncooked tortellini, cook it in a separate pot of gently boiling water until done, and then add the cooked tortellini to hot soup. If using frozen pre-cooked tortellini, heat broth to a gentle boil, then add frozen tortellini. It will thaw and heat in about 3 minutes.
