Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Last Fall I had posted about being on a soup kick for weekday lunches.  When Brett began a new job telecommuting last summer, I quickly found lunch needed to be more than the kids eating their usual fare of simple foods and myself just scrounging around for leftovers in the fridge.  Well that quickly turned into a big hassle, trying to meal plan for lunches as well as dinners, so I toned it back down and now we've been having soup and salad almost daily for several months.  So about once a month or so I make up large batches of a few different soups and freeze them in 3 cup portions.

And so I came across this gem.  Its a copy-cat recipe for Olive Garden's Chicken Gnocchi soup from CopyKat Recipes. I've never had it at the restaurant, but it sounded tasty.  In this latest round of soup-ing, the unintentional theme has emerged as using lesser-known pastas.  The other soup I made was Pasta e Fagioli (Pasta and Beans, but it sounds fancier in Italian), and I used Orzo, which is basically pasta shaped like rice.  Why eat rice when you can eat noodles shaped like rice!  Today's soup uses Gnocchi, a potato-dumpling pasta with a wonderful, pillowy texture when cooked that will leave your friends asking, "What did you say it's called?"  To which you answer, in your best Giada De Laurentiis impression, "Nee'yok-ee"!

And so, cook, we shall.

And, as usual, I'm doubling the recipe to stock up the freezer, so amounts of ingredients may appear larger than the recipe would suggest.

We begin with a mirepoix, by chopping celery.

  

Even if you've never used that term, you've probably been making it for ages.  

It's the celery-carrot-onion base to many soups and casseroles and other dishes.

Onions are the minimum, but the 3 together blend flavors into a nice base to any dish.

We don't like the texture of  celery in general, so I chop ours finer than necessary.

Chop an onion.

Red onions lend such a nice color.

Shred the carrots.

Chop the garlic.

I'm using "Leccino" extra-virgin olive oil from Northfield Olive Oils and Vinegars, a new shop that opened up downtown Northfield that we frequent regularly.  This olive oil has a smooth, fruity flavor and is my favorite so far of the regular oils.  If you ever have an opportunity to check out the store, it is amazing and people are so friendly and you can sample everything!

Melt butter and olive oil in a large stockpot.

Or just throw all those veggies and the butter and olive oil in at the same time.

So colorful!

Cook over medium to low heat until onions are softened and translucent, about 10 min.

Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

And now, the roux!  

My, we are fancy today, aren't we?

Stir in flour and cook until golden, about 2 min.

Golden!

Just checking in.

He'll scoot around the house and come find me and pull on my pants leg for a bit.

We chat, we laugh, we cry.

Then he moves on to the next shiny and/or chokable thing he can find.

My amazing lower-dairy alternative to Half-n-Half: half heavy cream and half oat milk.
Its gotta be a teensier bit healthier for you, right?
I can be sensitive to the dairies, so discovering Oat Milk, which thickens when heated, has been monumental.

Pour half-n-half into pot and bring to a simmer.

Meanwhile, here's an optional, somewhat obnoxious step: cut the gnocchi in half.

One gnocchi will fill your entire spoon, so if you want more parts of the soup in each bite, cut the gnocchi in half, and they're still good-sized.  Mini-gnocchi is available in many stores, just not the one I was at this particular shopping trip.

Cook according to pkg instructions.

Usually they boil for just a few minutes and float when they're done, so keep an eye out.

Add chicken to the stockpot.

This was the leftovers of Colin from the last post.  

This recipe does not call for a lot of chicken, 

so it can be increased according to what you have on hand.

Then add broth and return to a simmer.

There is a range on the broth, so you can choose to have a thinner or thicker soup.  

I chose the middle, because although I like thicker soups, I wanted more soup to show for my effort.

Coarse chop the spinach.

It wilts down so much, you can be relaxed with this step.

And for the record, there was no feather in the bag of spinach this time. 

Nor a clover leaf.

From past incidents, I recommend inspecting your greens.

Every time.

Gnocchi is ready.

Transfer to stockpot.

And with the last piece of gnocchi, my soup is literally to the brim.

Such a shame since all that's left is spinach and spices.

And, believe me, I considered winging it.

But then I gave in and dug out the Big Bertha of stockpots from my cupboard.

Which is another shame, because its not even halfway full in this pot!

Sigh, 1st world problem: I have too much food to fit in my regular pot, 

and now I have to wash my big pot.

Add spinach.

Measure out parsley, nutmeg, thyme and salt.

And grind your nutmeg fresh if you can! 

It's the nutmeg that takes this soup to 11.

Add spices and bring to a simmer to blend flavors and salt & pepper to taste.

And...scene.

Such a pretty soup.

And an uncommon flavor with the nutmeg, great soup to add to your rotation.

The original recipe calls for adding many ingredients one at a time and simmering to thicken in between, which I did the first time I made it.  But I've decided it doesn't make much of a difference, because this isn't risotto, that you add small amounts of liquids and they will absorb in. This is soup, meant to be liquidy by nature, and since you cook the gnocchi fully and don't add them until nearly the end, there's not enough flour to absorb much of the liquid.  And I don't think of creamy things as "reducing".  So I combined steps and made the recipe more streamlined, and it still turns out creamy and rich. 

• Chicken Gnocchi Soup
• Adapted by Katie Stime
• 
  
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin oil
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 2 large carrots, finely shredded
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 1 quart half and half or 1 pint heavy cream/1 pint Oat Milk
• 1 cup chicken breasts, cooked and diced 
• 1-2 (14 oz) cans chicken broth (1 can for thicker soup; 2 cans for thinner soup)
• 1 pkg gnocchi, pieces cut into halves, then cooked per pkg instructions
• 1 cup of fresh spinach coarsely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

Instructions

• In stockpot over med heat, melt olive oil and butter. 
• Add onion, carrots, and celery; saute until onions are translucent, about 10 min.
• Add garlic, cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
• Stir in flour and cook until golden, about 2 min.
• Slowly whisk in quart of half-and-half, making a roux, and bring to a simmer. 
• In separate pot, cook gnocchi according to package directions. 
• When roux is simmering, add chicken and broth, then bring back to a simmer.
• When beginning to thicken, add cooked gnocchi, spinach, seasonings (salt, thyme, parsley, nutmeg).
• Simmer until heated through and salt/pepper to taste.

Roast Chicken

Northfield has a farmers' market that runs summer through fall called Riverwalk Market Fair.  Last summer I made a habit of going downtown on Saturdays and buying veggies for the week from local farmers.  One of the booths was for Auntie Annie's Fields, who among other things, sold chickens, both whole birds and packs of different cuts.  

So one sunny, Summery day I brought my Thirty One Market Thermal Tote and stocked up on poultry.  Half hour later, trudging back to my car with a pastry from Martha's booth in one hand and 20+ lbs of chicken on my aching shoulder, I felt as if I'd completed a rite of passage as a true Northfielder.  Not only had I had a CSA share one summer years back, I had now bought local meat.  

Nevermind that I spent the Fall buying up cheap chicken at Sam's Club.  I'm a bit unpredictable in that regard, balancing healthy ingredients vs. grocery budget goals.  However, I'm happy to say that we're  back on a whole foods kick again.  I figure going organic/whole foods for half a year is better than not at all, so we'll just ride this out.  

And I'm so excited, we just signed up for a CSA half-share with the farm I bought veggies from all last summer, Spring Wind Farm. On a side note, the garden planning has begun, can't wait for Spring. The fervor and motivation always hits way too early, sadly planting is months away yet!

Now with 3 whole chickens in the freezer,  I realized I've never cooked a whole bird, don't really know how to.  So the experimenting began. And now I present to you the final whole chicken from that purchase.  I'm ashamed that it took so many months to cook the big birds, but roasting a bird seems like a big undertaking.  However, this is no turkey, it's a 5lb free-range chicken that led a happy life, whom I'd like to believe was called "Colin", so it really shouldn't be that intimidating.  And it's not.

As usual, I turn to the Pioneer Woman, and she has a simple and reliably tasty method for roasting Colin.

Line roasting pan, or other large pan with sides, with foil.

Zest 2 of your 3 lemons.

Be careful not to get over-zealous with your zesting.  The smooth lemon flavor we're harvesting is in the outermost layer, the yellow part of the rind.  So try not to zest into the white stuff, it is bitter and not as lovely lemon-y

Pause to take a whiff of your bowl.

In many recipes you can substitute dry herbs for fresh ones by just using substantially less.  In this case I did not have fresh rosemary and used dried, 1 tsp.

I would not recommend this.  Especially if you have a convection oven.  After roasting for an hour or so, the dried herbs almost burned a little, changing the flavor.  At the same time, that was on the outer skin only, so if you're not a chicken-skin eater, then no worries. But fresh rosemary goes much further in a recipe like this.

So try to come by fresh rosemary and then remove the leaves of one sprig and mince.

Mash lemon zest, rosemary, 1.5 sticks butter.
Then salt and pepper to taste, but I didn't want to taste straight-up butter.
So I salt and pepper the chicken later on.

I began with a fork, thinking it would mash well, but it was a disaster.
Wooden spoon to the rescue as usual.

Pat Colin dry. This is important for at least 2 reasons.

1.  We're going to be rubbing the butter all over the chicken in a minute, and it will just stick to your fingers instead of the bird if it's at all wet.
2.  For roasting you want to minimize any extra water/moisture, because it will create steam and compromise the roasting process.

I, uh, didn't know what to do with this, so I just tucked it under.    There, that's better.

Pause to get the teething baby set up with cheerios and a toy, or whatever other areas of life may need containing before you really commit to "chicken hands".

What a smiley helper I have today!

Now things get messy.
Smear butter mixture all over chicken.

Lift up the wings and legs and get in those deep recesses and see if you can keep a straight face--impossible!

Rub butter mixtures inside the chicken as well.

Halve lemon #3 and squirt juice over outside of chicken.

Place chicken breast-side up on roasting pan.
Then stuff as many lemon halves (up to 6) in the chicken as possible.
And 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, if using fresh.

Too many lemons?
Never!

Now generously sprinkle salt and pepper on the outside.

As you can see, my chicken was still a tiny bit frozen on the inside, so my butter started to harden up and fall off in chunks.  If this happens to you, keep calm and carry on--your bird may need to cook longer, but it doesn't affect the overall outcome.

Bake at 425 degrees (or 400 convection bake) for about 1:15.

I used a meat thermometer, and that was an adventure. Still working on finding a good place for the probe.  I started with the thickest part of the breast, but it was close to 165 degrees within 20 min, so it must have been touching a bone.  The thickest part of the thigh is another good location, and worked out in the end.  But some people say dark meat should get to a higher temp, more like 180.

If your temps aren't lining up at all with the suggested cooking time, and you know your chicken is completely thawed, keep monkeying with the thermometer probe until you get a reading that could make sense.

I detest undercooked poultry, so I  moved my thermometer around quite a bit, and it beeped done at about 1:10, so the times were close. And as I was carving I checked for clear juices, which there were.

And here it is.  Nice crispy skin and juicy meat inside.
The dark spots on the skin are burned dried rosemary, but we're not chicken-skin eaters, so it wasn't a problem, and it didn't affect the overall dish negatively.

Now that's a lovely piece of roast chicken.
We ate it with Spinach Rice Casserole, which is a great standby side dish I keep ready to go in the freezer.


Roast Chicken
by Ree Drummond

• 1 whole Chicken, Rinsed And Patted Dry
• ¾ cups Butter, Softened
• 3 whole Lemons
• 4 sprigs Rosemary
• Salt And Pepper, to taste

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (convection bake. If you're using a standard oven, you can do 425.)

Zest two of the lemons. Strip the leaves off of one of the rosemary sprigs and chop it up finely.

In a bowl, combine softened butter, lemon zest, rosemary, and salt and pepper to taste.

Line a baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil and lay the patted-dry chicken on the foil, breast side up.

Use your fingers to smear the butter mixture all over the chicken, under the skin, and inside the cavity. Cut the lemons in half and squeeze the juice of one lemon all over the chicken. Place the six lemon halves (if they'll fit!) and the three remaining rosemary leaves into the cavity of the bird.

Place the chicken into the oven and roast it for 1 hour, 15 minutes or until done. Skin should be deep golden brown and juices should be sizzling. 

*Using a probe thermometer, the thickest part of the thigh should be 180 or the thickest part of the chicken breast should be 160-165.

Carve/cut up to your heart's content and dig in!