When life gives you lumps, make dumpling soup. In Italian, gnocchi translated means “lumps” and gnochetti is an even more diminutive size or little lumps. Today we are making an easy finger-pinched gnochetti with a homemade bone broth. Boom — add a salad, and you’ve got a simple and nourishing meal.
Chicken contains a natural amino acid called cysteine, which thins the mucus in your lungs to expel it more easily when you are fighting a cough and cold. Dr. Stephen Rennard, a pulmonary expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, found evidence of anti-inflammatory properties that may also help prevent a cold’s miserable side effects.
Homemade bone broth using discarded chicken bones is a great way to get all your necessary nutrients for fighting off a winter cold, as well as life’s hurdles. It’s so simple to make your own and gives you control over the source of all your ingredients. Quick Tip: Save your leftover bones from all those roasted chickens or summer BBQs and freeze them for later use.
If life’s hurdles have you buried and eating out of a can these days, have no fear. Rennard also examined 13 brands of canned chicken soups and found many may work even better than homemade. (You didn’t read that here.) They included Knorr’s chicken noodle, Campbell’s Home Cookin’ chicken vegetable, Campbell’s Healthy Request chicken noodle, Lipton Cup-o-soup chicken noodle and Progresso chicken noodle.
- Broth:
- 2 carrots, cut into large chunks
- One 3½-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces OR 1-2 pounds of leftover bones
- 1 rib of celery, cut into large chunks
- 1 medium onion, unpeeled, quartered
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1 bay leaf
- 2-3 garlic cloves, optional (smashed)
- Dumplings:
- ½ cup semolina flour
- 2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter or vegan substitute
- 1 large egg
- 4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
- Large pinch of kosher salt
- Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
- Chopped parsley or chervil, for garnish
- Bring broth ingredients and 9 cups water to a boil in a large pot. Reduce heat to low; simmer, skimming occasionally, 1 hour 15 minutes. Let cool for at least 1 hour.
- Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Cool and skim fat from the broth. You should have 7–8 cups. Return to a clean pot over high heat and reduce by half. Season to taste with salt. Keep hot.
- Meanwhile, combine flour, butter, and egg in a small bowl; mix thoroughly. Add 4 tablespoons parmesan, salt, and nutmeg. Mix well to form a soft dough. Let rest for 15 minutes.
- Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Using damp hands, pinch off teaspoon-sized pieces of dough and drop into the water. Keeping water at a strong simmer, cook dumplings until nearly white in the center and cooked through, 15–20 minutes.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove dumplings from water. Place 4 or 5 in each of 4 heated bowls. Ladle broth over top, top with herbs, and serve with parmesan on the side.
I’m at home sick today, and this post was perfect to read. Dumplings are ultimate comfort food to me, in addition to chicken broth being healing. Great post!
Aw…. Sorry to hear you started your new year with a bug. It’s nice to hear that dumplings are your ultimate comfort food. The girl in the photo pinching the dumplings is a special niece and we made an afternoon of it together. Thank you for visiting! I hope you feel better soon 🙂