"Olive Garden Style" Chicken & Gnocchi Soup

For this recipe I omitted the garlic and onion. Next time used regular pasta. The gnocchi was a bit heavy in the soup.

 

 

 

1 tablespoon extra virgin oil

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

3 cups of milk (we used 2%)

1/2 cup celery, finely diced

1/2 cup onion, finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2-3 cups of low sodium chicken broth depending on how thick you like your soup

1 cup shredded carrots

1-2 cups of shredded chicken, I just used a bag of frozen precooked, shredded chicken we had on hand

1 package gnocchi, cooked or the equivalent homemade

handful of spinach leafs, ribboned ( I used frozen, chopped)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon parsley

1.) Heat the butter and olive oil in a large soup pot. Saute the onion, celery and garlic in the oil and butter until tender.

2.) Stir in the flour and cook for a minute before adding in the milk. Add the carrots and chicken and let the mixture simmer until it starts to thicken.

3.) While it is simmering, cook the gnocchi according to the directions on the package. Strain and set aside.

4.) Once mixture is thickend, add chicken broth to reach desired consistency.Once mixture tightens up again, add the gnocchi, spinach and seasoning. Simmer until fully heated through.

5.) Serve with your own hearty Italian bread.