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)
- 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment