Week #20 - Olive Garden Style Zuppa Toscana Soup

I was thinking of how much I love soup, salad, and breadsticks at Olive Garden so I decided to try making Zuppa Toscana soup. I found this recipe on Food.com.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Italian sausage (I like mild sausage)
• 2 large russet baking potatoes, sliced in half, and then in 1/4 inch slices
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup bacon bit (optional)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups kale or 2 cups swiss chard, chopped
• 2 (8 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 1 quart water
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

 

Directions:

1. Chop or slice uncooked sausage into small pieces.
2. Brown sausage in your soup pot.
3. Add chicken broth and water to pot and stir.
4. Place onions, potatoes, and garlic in pot.
5. Cook on medium heat until potatoes are done.
6. Add sausage and bacon.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.
8. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
9. Turn to low heat.
10. Add kale and cream.
11. Heat through and serve.

 

This soup was almost exactly like Olive Garden's! I omitted the bacon and I sauted the onions with the sausage first, but otherwise I followed the recipe. This soup was so good! I will definitely make it again, especially if I get my hands on some Olive Garden salad dressing.

Rating: 5/5

Week #17 - Jason's Deli Style Chicken Pot Pie Soup

My husband and I went to Jason's Deli this weekend. While he claimed that it was overpriced and not very good, I thoroughly enjoy their chicken pot pie soup. I found a recipe on CopyKat.com and decided to try it.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup – Made from scratch
Adapted from this recipe on RecipeZaar.com

Ingredients

◦2 cups cooked chicken, cubed )
◦Small onion, chopped
◦1 cup carrots, chopped
◦2 cups potatoes, cubed
◦1 can green peas, drained
◦1 can corn, drained
◦6 tbsp. butter or margarine
◦1/2 to 1 cup flour (see note below)
◦2 tbsp. chicken bouillon, ground up
◦2 cups chicken broth
◦4 cups of milk
◦1/2 tsp. pepper
◦1/4 tsp. garlic salt
◦Puff pastry dough ( I use Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations)
The Process

1. Put potatoes in a pot with 1 cup of chicken broth and enough water to cover them. At the same time, put your carrots in a pot with enough water to cover them. Cover and cook both vegetables until fork tender, about 15-20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, saute onions in a few teaspoons of oil until soft and translucent, about 5-8 minutes.

3. In a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add in bouillon, pepper, garlic, broth and flour (see note below). Stir until smooth.

4. Gradually add milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until it boils, simmer for a minute, stirring constantly.


Note: I like this soup to be thick, more like actual chicken pot pie. You may want it to be soupier, though. My recommendation is to start with 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of broth and bring to boil with milk (don’t skimp on the milk) like instructed. If you think it’s too soupy add more flour about 1/4 cup at a time until it thickens. If you add more flour, add another tablespoon of the ground up bouillon, too, or else it’ll taste too flour-y. If it’s too thick for your liking, add in chicken broth, about 1/4 cup at a time until it gets to the right consistency.

5. Add chicken and then each vegetable one at time and stir carefully between each addition.

6. Roll out your pastry dough about 1/4 inch thick and cut into 3×3 inch squares. Bake in 375 degree oven for 7-10 minutes, until puffy and slightly browned on top. Serve on top of soup.

I did not use a puff pastry topping just because I already had some bread at home and just had that with it instead. I prepared the carrots and potatoes in the same pot since they both required the same amount of time, and it worked fine. I ended up using about 1/2 cup of flour, and it still tasted a bit to flour-y, even though I added extra bouillon. I wanted it to be thick like real pot pie, and it was. It had the texture and taste of pot pie, but it was definitely not as good at Jason's. The broth part of it just didn't taste as good. But if I wasn't comparing, it was good enough.

Rating: 3/5

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