Sunday, October 6, 2013

Gnocchi Sausage Soup




This Italian soup experiment was a huge success.
As it should be because the Italian's know their food pairings and seasonings. 


This is the first time I've cooked gnocchi, not an applause worthy feat, since all you have to do is boil it for 1-2 min until they puff up. But, I've had to desire to use it and I'm thankful it helped create such a wonderful dish.

I must also note that there is no half and half or evaporated milk in this. To make this creamy soup I just used chicken stock and 3oz of 1/3 less fat cream cheese. Easy, healthier, and still gave this soup a wonderful texture.





Feel free to add in fresh ingredients if you have them on hand but I just used the dry seasonings I had and it was still fantastic.

Inspired from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice


Ingredients: 
1 lb gnocchi
1 lb Italian sausage (any sausage will will work really)*
2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
3 tbs minced garlic cloves,   about 4 cloves
1 small yellow or white onion
4 small sweet peppers or 1 large red or orange pepper, chopped
32 oz chicken stock 
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
3 oz reduced fat cream cheese
olive oil, for sauteing 
salt and pepper, to taste

* you can keep the casing on and have large cuts of sausage in your soup or remove the casing and break it apart (like ground turkey-esk)

Directions:
In a skillet brown sausage to your liking, set aside. 
Heat olive oil in a large soup pot on medium heat.
Add chopped onions and bell peppers and saute until unions are translucent.
Add in garlic and cook until fragrant. 
Add in cooked sausage, chicken stock, and all seasonings. Bring to simmer for 20 min.
Next, add in gnocchi and chopped spinach and bring to a boil for 1-3 min, until gnocchi is puffy and floating to the top of your soup.
Reduce heat to medium and add in the 3 oz of cream cheese in small chunks and stir into the soup until incorporated into the soup.

Serve warm and top with Parmesan cheese if desired. 






8 comments:

  1. This soup is delicious! I have made it for my family twice and they loved it! Simple, easy, and delicious!

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  2. This was fantastic! My husband' s words "best one yet, you have to make this again". My picky father and brother even loved it! Thanks for sharing your recipe.

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  3. I am so glad! Thank you for stopping by and sharing!

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  4. This was really good. Loved the addition of the cream cheese. Used cheese tortellini and a cured sausage from costco over gnocchi's and Italian sausage so the recipe is versatile. Thank you

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    1. Wonderful! Cheese tortellini sounds like a wonderful substitute in place gnocchi. Thank you for sharing!

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  5. this is delish!!! my hubby wanted hot and sweet sausage so I obnoxiously took away red pepper flakes. and I also added about 2pint glasses of water after all said and done bc of saltiness.with a doubled recipe. we love it and can't stop eating it! Thx

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    1. Wow, hot and sweet. That must have been an adventure! I have used Turkey kielbasa sausage in it as well and it turned out wonderful! Thank you for stopping by and sharing!

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