Week #14 - Olive Garden Style Chicken Gnocchi Soup

I bought some gnocchi at Whole Foods with no particular purpose in mind. Then I thought of the chicken gnocchi soup I like to get at Olive Garden, and I found a couple of copy cat recipes online. I chose this one on Food.com.

Ingredients

• 3 -4 chicken breasts, cooked and diced 
•  4 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1/2 carrot, shredded
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• salt and pepper
• 16 ounces potato gnocchi
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional)  

Directions:

1. Saute the onion, celery, garlic, carrot in oil over medium heat until onion is translucent.
2. Add chicken, chicken stock, half and half, salt and pepper, thyme. Heat to boiling, then add gnocchi. Gently boil for 4 minutes, then turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add spinach and cook for another 1-2 minutes until spinach is wilted.
4. (Heat to boiling and add cornstarch dissolved in 1-2 Tbsp water at this point if you want a thicker soup.).
5. Ladle into bowls and serve!
   
   I pretty much followed the directions except I used less chicken and less gnocchi. I think I used a bit too much thyme. This recipe was ok, but not the same as Olive Garden's soup, even though most of the reviews said it was better. I would rather go to Olive Garden.

Rating 3/5