Chicken and Kale Tortellini Soup — The Soup You Make the Day After

Tuesday, August 14th. Danny's birthday. I went to Holy Cross Cemetery after work. The evening light was golden — that late-summer light that makes everything look like a painting. Danny's headstone is simple: Daniel "Danny" Katz, 1996-2013, Beloved Son. There are always fresh flowers. Rachel comes every week. I sat down in the grass next to him and opened two bottles of Helen's Wheat. Set one against the headstone. Drank the other. "Happy birthday, man," I said. "Twenty-two. Can you believe it? Me neither." I told him about the brewery. About Helen's Wheat and Forest Floor. About the pierogi breakthrough. About Mrs. Wojcik calling me Jakub. About the pulled pork that brought the whole building to my apartment. I told him about the Brewers — fifty-nine wins, looking dangerous, Yelich on a tear. He would have cared about that. He was a bigger baseball fan than me. I told him I miss him. Not in the way I used to, where the missing was all-consuming and I couldn't see past it. Now it's more like a room in my house that stays dark. It's always there. I know it's there. Sometimes I open the door and sit in it for a while. But I don't live in it anymore. Steve and Rachel Katz invited me over for dinner on Danny's birthday, like they do every year. Rachel made brisket — Danny's favorite — and matzo ball soup, and I brought pierogi because that's what I bring everywhere now. It was quiet and sad and warm and full of love. Steve talked about Danny's Little League season when he struck out fourteen times in a row and then hit a home run and the entire team lost their minds. Rachel laughed so hard she cried, or maybe she was already crying. The line between laughter and tears in the Katz house is very thin, always. I drove home thinking about the people we carry. Danny is in every beer I name, every recipe I write, every graveside conversation. Babcia is in every pierogi, every card I pull from the stack, every hymn I hear in Polish. We carry them not because we choose to but because they built us, and tearing them out would mean tearing out the foundation. Made Rachel's matzo ball soup at home the next day. She'd given me the recipe years ago — it's simple, like most great soup: chicken stock, matzo meal, eggs, a little schmaltz. The matzo balls should be fluffy, not dense. I added dill because I'm Polish and can't help myself. Rachel would probably roll her eyes, but I think Danny would have laughed.

I couldn’t get Rachel’s soup out of my head the next morning — the way it tasted like something that had been made with grief and love in equal measure, the kind of dish that exists to hold people together at a table when the air is too heavy for words. I didn’t have schmaltz or matzo meal, but I had chicken broth and tortellini and a bunch of kale that needed to be used, and sometimes that’s enough. This chicken and kale tortellini soup isn’t Rachel’s recipe, and it doesn’t pretend to be — but it comes from the same instinct: make something warm, make it simple, and let the broth do the heavy lifting.

Chicken and Kale Tortellini Soup

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, with juices
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken (rotisserie works well)
• 9 oz refrigerated cheese tortellini
• 2 cups chopped kale, stems removed
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Salt to taste
• Fresh parsley or dill, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

1. Build the base. Heat olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5–6 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook for another minute until fragrant.
2. Add the broth. Pour in the chicken broth and diced tomatoes with their juices. Stir in the Italian seasoning and black pepper. Bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat.
3. Add the chicken. Stir in the shredded chicken and reduce heat to medium. Let it simmer for 5 minutes so the chicken warms through and the flavors begin to come together.
4. Cook the tortellini. Add the cheese tortellini to the pot and cook according to package directions, usually 5–7 minutes, until tender and floating.
5. Finish with kale. Stir in the chopped kale and cook for 2–3 minutes, just until wilted and bright green. Taste and adjust salt as needed.
6. Serve. Ladle into bowls and finish with a handful of fresh parsley or dill. Serve with crusty bread if you have it.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 315 | Protein: 23g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 36g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 760mg