Creamy Vegetable Tortellini Soup

Freeze only the base, without tortellini, cream or spinach, for up to three months.

Sauté the base first, then cook with broth. Add tortellini in the last twenty minutes on high and dairy and spinach near the end.

For that variation, use full-fat coconut milk or cashew cream, with vegan Parmesan and vegan tortellini.

Stir it into the softened vegetables with green beans and seasonings, before pouring in the vegetable broth.

Cook the onion, carrots and celery first, then add the minced garlic for thirty seconds before the remaining vegetables and seasonings.

Timing assumes the broth comes to a boil quickly. Add 5 minutes if your stove is slow. Fresh or frozen tortellini both work. Frozen goes in straight from the bag and needs about 1 extra minute. Avoid dried tortellini, which takes 12 to 15 minutes and overcooks everything else. Add the cream off the boil and don’t let the soup boil hard afterward, or it can split. Spinach needs about 60 seconds. Longer than that and it goes grey. Vegetarian as written with vegetable broth. For vegan, substitute full fat coconut milk or cashew cream for the heavy cream, use vegan Parmesan, and find vegan tortellini. For a slow cooker, sauté the onion, carrots, celery, garlic and tomato paste first, then transfer everything except the tortellini, cream and spinach with the broth. Low 5 to 6 hours or high 2 to 3. Add the tortellini in the last 20 minutes on high, then the cream, Parmesan and spinach in the final 5 minutes. The tortellini keeps absorbing broth, so this thickens overnight. Add broth when reheating. For make ahead batches, cook the soup without the tortellini and add it fresh when you reheat. Freeze the base only, without the tortellini, cream or spinach, up to 3 months.