Tortellini and Roasted Red Pepper Soup

*Chef's Note: This recipe was sent to me by a long-time friend and blog reader, Mitchell. I know his dad is a foodie and must have passed that love of food onto Mitchell, because this soup was great. It's simple, albeit a little expensive, and would be perfect for a night of entertaining where you want something fancy but no-fuss; it goes beyond regular noodles-and-tomato-sauce without being too weird for the less adventurous eater.*

Tortellini and Roasted Red Pepper Soup
[slightly] Adapted from Mitchell's recipe

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Makes: 6 main dish servings

Ingredients

8 oz white mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 TBS olive oil (or butter)
2 (16 oz) jars roasted red peppers (found in the salad dressing aisle)
2 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 (9 oz) packages fresh cheese tortellini, uncooked

Directions

Place the roasted red peppers and liquid in a blender or food processor, and blend until smooth.

Heat olive oil in large saucepan. Chop mushrooms and, once the oil is hot, add mushrooms to the pan and cook for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms begin to brown. Add the garlic and cook one minute.

Stir in the pureed red peppers, chicken broth, and seasonings. (It will look really runny but it will thicken substantially as it cooks.) Bring the mixture to a boil. Add the tortellini and continue cooking, uncovered, on medium high-heat for 8-10 minutes, or until pasta is al dente.

Tips
*This can easily be made into a sauce instead of a soup by using less of the chicken broth (half? maybe more?) and cooking the pasta in a separate pot of water. You would still need to cook the sauce for 8-10 minutes to allow it to thicken.
*To cut down on costs, this could be made with canned roasted tomatoes--the roasting would give it more depth than a regular tomato soup.
*Try browning some diced onions and adding a TBS or so of white cooking wine before cooking the mushrooms--this would give the dish a hint of sweetness and balance the boldness of the red peppers.
*Stick with the cheese tortellini. The soup doesn't leave you a lot of room to taste a more complex flavored pasta.

Sweet French Dressing

*Chef's Note: I recently jumped into the world of eating lots of fruits and vegetables (you know about that whole food pyramid thing? Genius!). One thing that smoothed my transitions from a few veggies to a lot of veggies was this dressing. I could eat a whole raw cucumber dipped in this shockingly bright orange sauce and be a happy happy girl. It's particularly tasty on slightly bitter veggies like spinach and cucumbers rather than sweeter, milder ones like carrots.*

Sweet French Dressing (a.k.a. Nikki Sauce)
from my little sister's friend Nikki

3/4 C sugar
1 tsp salt
1 TBS Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 C ketchup
1/3 C apple cider vinegar
1 scant C vegetable oil (NOT Canola oil)
1 tsp grated or finely chopped onion (of if you're lazy, 1/2 tsp onion powder)

Combine ingredients in blender and blend for about 60 seconds. The dressing will be the color of a bandaid (no kidding), but as it sits it will deepen to a bright orange.

Tips:
*The oil shouldn't separate, but if it does, blend until it emulsifies.
*If you like a more acidic dressing, only add 1/2 C of sugar
*I make this in a pint sized wide-mouth Mason jar with my hand blender--it stores nicely in that same container and makes very little mess.
*This recipe halves well (especially if it's feeding two people) and keeps in the fridge for about 2 weeks.

And so the blog grinds back to life...

After almost exactly two years of being derelict, I'm attempting to get things back up and running. Husband has a new job (we're no longer college students!! We can buy expensive produce and not feel guilty!!!) and I have more time to myself than I probably should, so I'm going to do my best to document the good meals that come out of my kitchen (because we all know how badly dinner can flop--I'm looking at you, Velveeta cheese!).

I've had a talk with myself and decided to not aim obscenely high regarding my goals of this little blog, and I think I can speak for Jenny too: we want to create a forum to share relatively easy, healthy meals for busy people and some helpful skills we've picked up from our years in the kitchen.

I'm trying to keep my ego in check and not anticipate a huge following; mainly I want to reach my friends who have asked for recipes in the past. And let's be honest here--my photography skillz are lacking and there are much prettier blogs out there to read. A lot of my recipes will come off other blogs, but again, I'm after sharing the good stuff I find (and giving proper credit).

So now that we've had that lovely DTR, let's try this blogging thing again, shall we?