84 – Spicy Gnocchi Soup

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Instagram will be the death of me – I just know it. Even if I somehow survive my newfound addiction to the photo-sharing app/site, my humble little blog may not…

Actually, there’s no way that’s going to happen – I’m too determined! Lately though, with how busy life has been with work starting back up, it’s been so difficult getting all the way to a published post. It’s been easy enough getting through the cooking and photo-taking stages, but then doing a full write-up afterwards…gah! After working with an average of 90 students a day, some evenings all I want to do once I get home is recuperate…and cook…and take photos…and share them…but definitely not tediously write out recipes for the sake of a blog post.

But, this recipe is good enough to help me break through the rut. When I texted me wife to tell her the night’s menu, she thought the combination was strange: gnocchi in soup? Uh, heck yeah, gnocchi in soup!

Super delicious, and so much quicker to throw together than some of the other meals I’ve made over the past year (I’m looking at you, lasagna), this soup is everything you could ever ask for…as far as soups are concerned. It eats like a meal (actually, it totally IS a meal), it has a healthy dose of spice, and it has a bunch of colourful ingredients I’ve been led to believe are healthy for you and I.

This recipe was adapted from Cinnamon-Spice & Everything Nice, and though no cinnamon was used in the making of the soup, it definitely had the “spice and everything nice” parts down pat. Seriously, this soup is happening again very soon. In the meantime, I definitely think you should give it a try. Here it is:

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Spicy Gnocchi Soup

Ingredients:

• 375 g. package Johnsonville “All Natural Fresh Italian Hot Ground Sausage”
• 2-3 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 cup thinly-chopped carrots, larger pieces halved
• 2-4 cloves garlic, diced
• 900 ml. chicken broth
• 28 oz. can San Marzano tomatoes with basil
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 455 g. package mini gnocchi
• 4 oz. spinach leaves, rinsed thoroughly and roughly chopped
• 1/2 tsp. ground pepper
• basil pesto, for topping (optional)
• shaved/shredded parmesan, for topping (optional)

Directions:

• Cook up the ground sausage in a medium-sized frying pan over medium heat until fully cooked (no pink remains). Drain off the excess grease (optional – makes the soup slightly healthier, and a bit less spicy) and set the meat aside for later.
• In a Dutch oven over medium heat, add in the vegetable oil and the carrots. Sautee until the carrots are softened, adding a little bit of extra oil if necessary.
• Add the garlic and sauté for about a minute longer.
• Add the chicken broth, tomatoes and dried oregano. Break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon (they will be very soft), then bring everything to a boil.
• Add in the gnocchi, let the soup return back to a boil, then decrease the heat to a light simmer. Let it simmer away 2-4 minutes, until the gnocchi float.
• Add the spinach and sausage to the soup, and continue simmering until the spinach wilts.
• Stir in the pepper. Taste and season additionally if necessary (but use caution, as the pesto adds saltiness to the soup already). If the basil from the can of San Marzano tomatoes is still intact, remove it. If not, it’s fine to simply leave in the soup.
• Ladle into bowls, and top with up to a tbsp. of basil pesto and some sprinkled parmesan (both optional).

Serves 4

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Actually, I did make this soup again within a week of first doing so. I wasn’t completely satisfied with my first set of pictures, so I made it again to take some more pictures before posting the recipe.

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