I’m all for soup season, but to get the buy-in from the boys in the house, I have to dress it up with enough toppings and sides for them to consider it a “meal”. The tortellini in this one is a big selling feature, and if topped with toasted pumpkin seeds and a side of crusty bread, I usually get the thumbs up. Quite honestly, this soup is pretty filling, even without the bread, but soups really are the best to dip bread in, aren’t they?

This soup is already dairy-free (if you don’t serve with parmesan on the top) and you can easily make it gluten-free by using your gluten-free pasta of choice.

Recipe

Pumpkin, Tortellini and Kale Soup

Ingredients

150 g chopped pancetta
One small onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic
Red bell pepper
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
salt and pepper to taste
a pinch of red pepper flakes
3-4 stems of fresh thyme
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2-3 cups red or curly kale, stems removed and roughly chopped
3 cups cheese or beef tortellini, uncooked
Toppings like toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds), shaved parmesan and crunchy croutons

Directions

In a large pot over medium-high heat, add pancetta and cook until fragrant and moderately crisp.
Add onion, garlic and pepper. Stir consistently, coating everything in the grease from the pancetta. Cook until onion and pepper are softened.
Add pumpkin and stir to coat. Sprinkle with a pinch of red pepper flakes, strip the fresh thyme and add, and add salt and pepper to taste. You won’t need a lot of salt (if any!) because the pancetta is already salty!
Slowly add chicken broth. From here you can dump it all in a blender like the deluxe cooking blender and set to “soup” and then add back to the pot, or you can use an immersion blender and blend until smooth, and bring broth to a simmer.
Add tortellini, and allow to cook for 6-7 minutes. In the last couple minutes, add kale and cook until bright and slightly wilted.
Serve with crusty bread, and top with shaved parmesan and toasted pepitas!