Don’t you just drag into the house exhausted some days and just want to take something out of the refrigerator or freezer and nuke it? Good thing we made gnocchi last weekend!
One time when we let my son pick what he wanted for dinner on his birthday, he wanted to go to Olive Garden. He had seen a lot of commercials for it, especially the all-you can eat soup and salad. All-you-can-eat is particularly appealing to teenage boys and they sure can put it away. Luckily he plays sports and stays in shape. The summer when he was 12, there was a couple of month span of time between when baseball season ended and school started. He spent a lot of time on the couch because most of his friends are more into video games than bike riding and other outdoor activities. He put on ten pounds in just a few months. I was really surprised because I didn’t realize a kid’s weight could change that quickly. As soon as he started cross-country at school, he ran it all off.
Anyway, my husband found a copy-cat recipe online for an Olive Garden soup and it came out great. You can use packaged gnocchi but I find the fresh is much tenderer and less chewy. You can also use leftover chicken or leave it out.
Gnocchi Soup
1 lb gnocchi
4 T butter
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 C finely diced onion
1/2 C finely diced celery
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 C flour
1 quart half-and-half
28 oz chicken broth
1/2 t sea salt
1/2 t dried thyme
1/2 t dried parsley
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1 C finely shredded carrots
1 C coarsely chopped fresh spinach leaves
1 C diced cooked chicken breast
Melt the butter into the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion becomes translucent. Whisk in the flour and cook for about 1 minute. Whisk in the half-and-half. Simmer until thickened. Whisk in the chicken broth. Simmer until thickened again. Stir in salt, thyme, parsley, nutmeg, carrots, spinach, chicken, and gnocchi. Simmer to heat through all ingredients.
