Olive Garden Potato Gnocchi soup.... not chicken and gnocchi but just vegetarian

Olive garden is a perfect place to try out some delicious flavor-filled Italian delicacies. The best part or I should say my favourite part is the fresh, soft and warm bread along with a bowl of creamy soup made with traditional Italian dumplings, chicken and spinach. Yes.... I love Olive garden's Chicken and Gnocchi soup and I have been in love with it from the first time I tried it. Its rich, creamy, bursting with flavors in every spoonful

Its been very very long since I had some so was really eager to make some at home and enjoy a big serving. When checking out some video on youtube I stumbled upon a video saying "olive garden copycat gnocchi soup". I was really tempted to have some so just went through the video to check out the recipe. The recipe was pretty much very simple and I had almost all the ingredients except celery. But I remember from of the tv food shows that we can use coriander stalks chopped finely as an alternative to celery if not as an exact substitute. So I thought y not giving it a try. Now the next part was the gnocchi part. The recipe called for store-bought ones which ofcourse I did not have so did a quick search for homemade potato gnocchi too. The recipes were simple and I could bring the soup together in no time

This soup recipe is definitely a keeper. I enjoyed it till the last drop ;) But next I am planning to make some breadsticks as well to go with the soup.... say .. I want it to eat it the Olive garden way ;)

  

Serves... 2 ppl

Serve option... Hot with warm and soft breadsticks

This is what u'll need...

Garlic - 5-6 big cloves
Onion - 1 medium
Carrot - 1 medium
Chopped Celery - 2 tbspn
Oil - 1 tbspn
Butter - 1 tbspn
All-purpose flour/Maida - 2 tbspn levelled
Vegetable stock - 1/2 cup
Full cream milk - 1 cup
Spinach leaves - a handful
Pepper to taste
Salt to taste

For Gnocchi ->
Potatoes - 2 medium
Flour - 3-4 tbspn
Pepper to taste
Salt to taste

Here is the stir....

• First lets see how to make the potato gnocchis. These are just little potato dumplings that taste great in our flavor-filled soup
• To make gnocchis boil 2 potatoes till soft

• Peel the potatoes and when still hot place them on a strainer(mesh-type). Use the back of any spatula or ladle and press it while moving your hand in a circular motion. This will push the potatoes through the strainer like tiny noodles

• Add 3 tablespoons of flour to the potatoes. You can add more if you need when making the dough

• Add salt and pepper to taste... just a tad little. Dont go by the pictures, I just added a little

• Mix everything well until the potato and flour come together and form a dough

• Meanwhile pour some water in a pan and bring it to a boil

• Take a little dough and roll it into a small ball. Drop a couple of them into the water. Once cooked, the dumpling will start floating on top. Remove them and they are ready to go into the soup

• In case the dumpling becomes too soft or starts dissolving in the boiling water, dont panic. Add an extra tablespoon of flour to the dough and repeat the process again

• Once the dough is right, pinch out a ball of dough and roll it into a thick rope.Cut the rope into small pieces - say 3/4 to 1 inch thick

• Place each piece of cut dough on the fork and press it gently downwards to get beautiful and traditional gnocchi marks on the dumplings

• Slide some gnocchis into the boiling water and let them stay there till they start floating on top
• Now the gnocchis are ready

• For the soup, add a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of butter to a pan

• Peel and chop the garlic cloves finely and toss them into the pan. Saute this for a few seconds till you can smell the aroma of garlic

• Chop onion finely and add it to the pan. Cook for about a minute

• Add chopped carrots and finely chopped celery. I used coriander stalk and felt fine with the flavour.... especially nothing weird that I thought like

• Fry this again for about a minute or two and not too long

• Spoon in 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour/maida and mix it thoroughly and let it cook on low flame for about 2-3 minutes. We need to cook the flour thoroughly before going to the next step

• Add 1/2 cup of vegetable/chicken stock. I used vegetable stock. Stir it well to mix the flour really well

• Pour in 1 cup of full cream milk to the pan and let it simmer for about a minute or two

• Season it with a little salt and pepper

• Pick a handful of spinach.... I didnt have any at hand but had some fresh keerai in my kitchen garden.... (keerai - a variety of spinach but more tender). Add spinach to the soup 

• Let this simmer for about 5 minutes till the soup gets thick and the leaves wilt down too
• Now add the prepared potato gnocchis and give it a gentle stir. Let it sit for about 1 minute. Add as much as you want. I love it a lot so I added a lot ;)

• Thats it... now its time to serve.Turn off the flame and pour the soup into a bowl. Top it with some grated cheese .... any kind you would like

Note: 

• Cook the flour thoroughly before adding stock
• Add full cream milk for enhanced  flavour 
• You can add cooked chicken pieces if you want