Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

In addition to the other multitude of foods that I love, soup is high up on the list.

But I'm specific about the soup that I like.  I like creamy, thick, stick-to-your-ribs soup.  Cream of chicken, cream of asparagus, cream of tomato, etc. etc.

In my food blog travels, I came across this creamy Chicken and Gnocchi soup.  I was intrigued.  I love gnocchi, I love a creamy soup, and this one is chock full of vegetables - meaning it was legit healthy.

Now - here's what you need to know - allow me to segue for a minute here.  In the world, there are like a zillion recipes for a zillion dishes.  For example.  My chocolate chip cookie recipe is different from the your favorite, and from your cousins favorite, and her friend's favorite.  Do you see where I'm going with this?

Because of this, I like to test out different recipes to figure out which one I like the best.  Or maybe the first one I try isn't that great and I need to strike out again.

Which is what happened with this soup the first time I tried it.

I was SO excited.  I KNEW it was going to be good.  I could just tell!

And it was......  As waste of my time.  Something about the ingredients, or maybe the cooking method.  Something didn't work.  There was WAY too much olive oil and it was downright gross.

It was a few years before I decided to take the plunge and try again. 

These are all the things you'll need.  Just check out all those veggies!  I feel like a better/more healthy version of myself already.  lol

In a medium pot over medium heat, combine the butter and olive oil and heat until the butter is melted.



Add the onions.

 

And the celery and carrots.

 

Then add in the garlic and the thyme.

 

Cook the veggies until they're nice and soft and tender.  It'll take about 5 - 10 minutes.  Then add in the salt and pepper.

Add in the flour.

 

Stir the veggies around to coat with the flour.  You'll to cook the veggies and flour for another couple of minutes.

Then stir in the chicken broth.

 

And then the half and half.  (Okay - so that's the "not so healthy" part of the recipe).

Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened.  You can see on the sides of the pot in the picture below that the liquid is thick and hearty.  (this is the part where you're going to cook the gnocchi according to the package directions)

Then add in the chicken.

 

And the cooked gnocchi.

 

Cook for a few minutes so that the chicken and gnocchi are heated through.

Add in the roughly chopped spinach.

 

Then it'll look like this.

 

And you can ladle the soup into a bowl and it'll look like this.

 

And this.

 

And when you dip in a spoon to chow down, it'll look like this.

 

And this.

I completely recommend serving this with crusty bread, or a crusty bun, or crackers.  But definitely bread so that you can scrape every last drop of soup off the bottom of the bowl.  Trust me - you'll be disappointed if you don't.

This was the epitome of soups for me.  Creamy, hearty, full of vegetables, gnocchi, and chicken.  You could taste the slight hint of olive oil and the salt and pepper seasoned it perfectly. 

While there's some work involved - from start to finish (including prep time) it takes about an hour to make.  That's pretty quick for such a delicious recipe.  Although I've said before that delicious doesn't always need to take forever.

I go through barrels of soup in the winter - this is one of my most treasured favorites!  I hope you love it as much as I do. 

xoxo - Heather

 

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

 

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced celery

1 cup diced carrots

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 cups chicken broth

4 cups half and half

2 cups cooked chicken, cubed or shredded

1 pound gnocchi, prepared according to package directions

2 - 3 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped

1. In a large pot over medium heat, heat the butter and olive oil.
2. Add the onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and thyme and cooked until softened.  About 5 - 10 minutes.  Add salt and pepper.
3. Whisk in the flour and cook for about two minutes.  Slowly whisk in the chicken broth.  Then whisk in the half and half.  Heat to a simmer and cook until thickened. 
4. Add the chicken and heat through.
5. Stir in the gnocchi and the spinach.  Cook until heated through and the spinach has wilted.

Source:  Taste and Tell