Lemony tortellini soup

This lemony tortellini soup is light on the stomach, very tasty, and is a great weekday training meal to keep your glycogen levels topped up and your muscles healthy…

Prep: 5 mins

Cook: 10 mins

Serves: 2-3

lemony-tortellini-soup

Kate Percy

Published: January 18, 2024 at 10:36 am

Feeling ready for a nutritional reset? The start of the year is the ideal time to revitalise your eating habits and get back on track, and this Lemony tortellini soup will help you do just that.

I’m not one for a complete January detox. I'd rather encourage habits you can sustain consistently for the next 12 months, embracing a good balance of macronutrients (carbs, protein and fats) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and keeping well-hydrated.

Focussing on a wide variety of fresh ingredients and cooking from scratch will help you avoid ultra-processed foods and nutrient-poor calories.

A better-nourished body for the long term is a more resilient one, so getting your diet right for the new year will not only give you improved energy levels but also help prevent injury.

This Lemony tortellini soup with spinach and dill uses eggs rather than cream for the sauce, which boosts the protein element of this dish.

Light on the stomach and very tasty, it’s a great weekday training meal to keep your glycogen levels topped up and your muscles healthy.

Top image credit: Dave Caudery

Ingredients

300g fresh tortellini (any sort)
Juice of 1 1/2 lemons
800ml vegetable stock
4 eggs
100g spinach
25g dill, finely chopped
To serve
Grated parmesan and extra virgin olive oil

Methods

Step 1
Bring the stock to the boil and add the tortellini. Cook for 2mins, or according to the pack instructions. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside, keeping the stock water in the pan.
Step 2
Add the lemon juice to the stock. Remove from the heat. Break the eggs into a heatproof bowl. Add a pinch of salt and a good grinding of black pepper and whisk for a couple of mins.
Step 3
Add 1 tbsp of the stock to the eggs, whisking all the time. When that is combined, gradually add the rest of the stock, continuing to whisk all the time.
Step 4
Bring a saucepan of water to a simmer and place the bowl on top. Whisk the eggs until the mixture becomes thicker and the consistency of double cream.
Step 5
Transfer the egg mix back into the pan you heated up the stock in. Add the tortellini, spinach, dill, season and heat VERY gently until the spinach has wilted.
Step 6
Serve immediately in warmed pasta bowls with plenty of grated parmesan and a good drizzle of olive oil.

Mix it up – 3 twists on your tortellini

Go Gut-friendly

Mix in a jar of artichokes, drained, at stage 3, when you add in the tortellini. Delicious and packed with fibre.

Anyone for peas?

Add 2 tbsps crème fraiche and a cup of cooked peas at stage 3.

Add more protein

Poach 2 salmon fillets at stage 1. Remove with the tortellini and break into flakes. Pop back into pan at stage 3 with the tortellini.

Sports nutrition cook and author

Sports nutrition cook and keen amateur athlete Kate Percy set up the #GoFaster campaign in 2009 and, following the publication of several sports nutrition books, now produces a range of all-natural energy balls, Go Bites (www.katepercys.com).