Our kitchen is running on fumes today. I am due a very large and very extensive trip to the grocery store but I am still in the middle of making the list. Lunchtime waits for no one and I had to come up with something out of what felt like nothing. How I love my pantry stash! Out of a few random ingredients, I was able to make homemade soup and fresh bread from the oven for a quick and relatively healthy (albeit starchy) lunch for the girls and myself.
Want to know the best part? All the ingredients came from Costco! You could honestly stock up on all these ingredients in bulk and have a great little emergency meal on hand at all times. I've had this trio of gnocchi from Costco sitting in my cupboard for months but haven't been sure what to do with them. They made an amazing soup filler: light, fluffy, and very satisfying in place of noodles or rice.
And a side note, if you haven't already tried the french bread loaves from the freezer section at Costco, I HIGHLY recommend them. $10 for 10 loaves. They are flash frozen in France and shipped here. You just thaw for 10 minutes on the counter and bake them for 10 minutes in your oven. I am a total bread snob and they have my absolute seal of approval.
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Gnocchi soup with lemon and dill
recipe adapted from Enlightened Soups by Camilla Saulsbury
Ingredients:
8 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I had to use the organic chicken stock I had on hand despite the higher sodium)
1 16 oz package of dried gnocchi
5 carrots, peeled and diced
Garlic: use one whole clove or just a very few pieces of Penzey's freeze dried minced garlic
1/2 lemon juiced
1/2 tsp dried dill
salt and pepper to taste
Frozen french bread loaves
Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Combine the chicken broth (or stock), diced carrots, and the garlic in a large saucepot and bring to a boil. Gently simmer for 10-15 min until the carrots are tender. Remove the garlic clove if you used a whole one.
By now the oven should be preheated. Put the french bread into the oven and set the timer for 10 min. Add the potato gnocchi to the saucepot and simmer while the bread bakes. With 2 minutes left on the timer, squeeze half a lemon into the pot, add the dill, salt, and pepper, and stir.
When the bread comes out, the soup is done.
This looks so yummy! Can't wait to make it. For just me. Because I'm sure the boys would not approve. And I don't care :-)
Posted by: Renee | January 29, 2012 at 03:56 PM