Chicken Gnocchi Soup

I was dreaming about my favorite soup 'Chicken Gnocchi' as the snow was falling this week. Luckily I happened to have almost all the supplies in before the big snow storm. My husband was working from home because of the snow...and I have to admit he did the cooking. However I do use 'we' as I bought the ingredients, chose the recipe, and searched the internet to find an alternate for 'half and half'. That has to count for part of the work - right. 

We doubled the recipe and substituted the half and half with evaporated milk (the only ingredient I was missing - and I wasn't going to brave the 12-15 inches of snow to nip to the store.) I hunted online for an alternate ingredient and found that you can use evaporated milk - which thanks to my pantry I had plenty of. You can substitute it 1:1 and it works great.

 

Chicken Gnocchi

1 tsp olive oil 

4 tablespoon butter

4 tablespoon flour

1 quart half and half (We used Evaporated Milk)

1/2 cup celery diced small

1 cup onion diced small

2-3 minced garlic cloves

1 cup finely shredded carrots

2 - 14oz canned chicken stock

1 cup cooked chicken (we used rotisserie)

1 package gnocchi (small or cut into thirds) - cook as per package instructions

1 cup fresh chopped spinach (we used frozen and it worked too)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp parsley

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Saute the celery, onion, and garlic in the butter and olive oil until translucent. Make a roux by adding the flour. Cook for a minute then add the half and half (or evaporated milk) Cook the gnocchi and put to side. Add the carrots and chicken to the roux. When it thickens add the chicken stock. When it thickens again add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and seasoning. Simmer until heated through.

It was delicious even the four year old ate two bowl. We will definitely be making this one again.(Well at least my husband will).

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