Italian Sausage Tortellini

This is a recipe that I found about a year ago on kevinandamanda.com that I have made some little changes to. You can find the original recipe here. Here is my version of Italian Sausage Tortellini:

I start by heating a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet. While the olive oil is heating, I chop up 1 medium onion.

Once the olive oil is hot, I add the onions to the skillet and let them cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the onions are cooking, I take 6 Italian sausages out if the fridge and remove them from their casing.

Once the Italian sausages are out of their casing, I put them in the skillet to cook with the onions. As they are beginning to cook, I use a wooden spoon to break the sausages into small pieces (about the same size as the tortellini will be).

I cooked the Italian sausage and onion on medium heat until the sausage in browned and cooked through. It is quite easy to see as the sausage is cooking because you will be breaking the sausages into pieces.

If you have a large enough skillet, you could cook the entire recipe in the skillet. My skillet was a little too small and I was worried about it overflowing once I added my wet ingredients, so I switched my cooked Italian sausage and onion over to a pot and lowered the heat.

I left my Italian sausages and onions on low heat while I got out 3 cloves of garlic to crush into the pot.

 Once my garlic was in, I stirred the mixture together just until I could smell the garlic then left it to simmer as I gathered my wet ingredients.

I added 3/4 cup of chicken broth, 14 ounces of crushed tomatoes, 1/2 cup of heavy cream to the pot and stirred until it was combined. I added 1 cup of water to my pot because my mixture was too thick to cook the tortellini. I added the water 1/4 cup at a time, until I thought it had enough liquid to cook the tortellini.

***I have since made this recipe a couple of times and I add 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes at this point. It adds a little kick to the recipe without making it too spicy.
 

I added in 500g of tortellini. I used tortellini from a local bakery, but you could easily use any brand of tortellini. Once the tortellini was in, I turned the heat up to high to bring the pot to a boil. The tortellini will begin to stick to the bottom of the pot, so I recommend stirring often. As soon as the liquid reached a boil, I turned my boiler down to medium heat and let my tortellini cook for 15 minutes.

While the tortellini was cooking on medium heat, I chopped up a handful of fresh basil. Once my tortellini was cooked through, I added my chopped basil to the pot and stirred until it was mixed in, without letting it cook for too long.

Once my basil was incorporated, I turned my burner off and transferred the Italian sausage tortellini into a large casserole dish, grated some mozzarella cheese on top and cooked it at 300°F for 10-15 minutes (just until the cheese is melted).

ITALIAN SAUSAGE TORTELLINI:
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
6 (600g) Italian Sausage 
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup chicken broth
14 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1/2 heavy cream
1/4 - 1 cup water
500g tortellini
salt and pepper to taste
handful of fresh basil, chopped
Mozzarella (to taste)

Directions:
1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Once the oil is hot, add onions. Remove sausages from casings and add to skillet. Use a wooden spoon to break the sausage into small chunks. Cook the sausages on medium heat until they are browned and cooked through.
2. If your skillet is too small, transfer sausage and onion into a pot and reduce burner to low heat. Mince garlic and mix it into the sausage until it is stirred in.
3. While on low heat, stir in chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, heavy cream, water and tortellini. Stir the mixture until it is combined, then increase heat to high and bring to a boil.
4. Once the mixture boils, reduce to medium-low heat and let the tortellini simmer for 15 minutes, or until it is cooked through. As the tortellini is cooking stir in fresh basil.
5. Once the tortellini is cooked through, remove the pot from the heat and pour the Italian sausage tortellini into a large casserole dish. Grate some mozzarella cheese over the top, cover with tinfoil and cook at 300°F for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!
Kenzie