Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

I found this is a recipe at www.copykat.com  So good! The kids even loved it. And it tasted VERY close to the real deal. I served it with baguettes and salad with Olive Garden dressing (I have to admit I have made this dressing too, but it takes a ton of time.  I now just buy it from Olive Garden.  Price is worth it).  Here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

1 cup chicken breasts, cooked and diced (I used a rotisserie chicken).

4 T. butter

4 T. flour

1 quart half and half

1-14 oz can chicken broth

1/2 cup celery, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup carrots, finely shredded

1 cup onion, finely diced

1 cup fresh spinach, coarsely chopped

1 T. extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. parsley

1 lb gnocchi (you can buy this in the pasta section)

Preparation:

I started out by chopping the onion up in my food processor.  Then I dumped into a bowl and pressed the garlic through my garlic press and adding it to the onion.  I then cut the carrot and celery into big chunks and then chopped it in the food processor.  I then dumped it into another small bowl.  After that I chopped the rotisserie chicken in the food processor.  Last, I chopped the spinach. 

Directions:

Saute the onion and garlic in the butter, when the onion becomes translucent, add the flour and make a roux.  Let the butter and flour mixture cook for about a minute before adding the half and half and stir until clumps are gone.

 

After adding the half and half, start the gnocchi, cooking according to the package directions.

Into the roux add in the carrots, celery, and chicken.  Once the mixture become thick add the chicken broth and olive oil.  Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and seasonings

I hope you will try this recipe.  This is my favorite soup to get when we go to the Olive garden, and now I don't have to wait for date night to have some.  This is by far the easiest from-scratch soup (or scratch soup as Gabe calls it) I have EVER made.