Creamy Chicken and Gnocchi Dumplings

Okay I need to start off telling you three things:

1. I wanted to use these gnocchis I got for Alex to try; try she did and hate she did, so I was stuck with gnocchis, which I've never been super fond of but as I'm less fond of wasting food, I checked out a Rachael Ray recipe, completely changed/ruined/sullied it, and that's why I'm posting this recipe, because it's now mine.

2. I'm exhausted tonight; I had a rough run, a horrid night's sleep. Please forgive the present and/or lack of photography.

3. Finally, my camera battery ran out in the middle of this recipe, so the last photo was in the sickliest light possible, which is why I only took one. I skipped photographing steps because who wants to feel like they're in a Saw movie? Or worse, the green first Twilight movie? I fixed it with a picture editor on my laptop but anyways, that's why there's lots of pictures of melted butter and only one of the finished product.

Anyways, color me disappointed. Aren't you hungry? And EXCITED?! On to the recipe! While you read, I'll go curl up in the corner and cry/sleep/cry-sleep

Creamy Chicken and Gnocchi Dumplings
Serves 2 


- 9 oz gnocchi
- olive oil, drizzles here and there
- 1/2 onion, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 12 oz chicken (I know, we're pigs but we're athletic I swear), cut into strips
- 1 1/3 cup frozen peas
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp flour
- 3/4 cup chicken broth (I used beef, so anything is possible)
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup parmesan

I hope everyone remembers that I discussed my heady levels of exhaustion from the day. Anyways, I didn't start taking pictures until after I sauteed my garlic and onion, added my chicken and browned it, and then finally added my peas before I wailed "I was gonna BLOG this" to Todd, to which he said "Can I turn off Dancing with the Stars?"

Anyways, I had already boiled some water, thrown in the gnocchi and cooked it, according to Trader Joe's' instruction, until they float to the top, then two minutes more, then drained them.

Here are the roux players:

The lighting sucks here too. Anyways, I ran out of chicken bouillon so I used beef and it was very delicious. Anyways, put olive oil into a skillet, and when it's nice and hot, add the onion and garlic. Once that softens and starts turning golden, add the chicken strips:

Now let's work on the roux. Add two generous tbsp of butter or in my case, Smart Balance Light:

Wow that looks like a lot! Let it melt:

Yum! Now add your flour and stir to mix it up. It will get super lumpy so it's imperative you have your broth mixed and ready to go. Keep adding broth:

Still lumpy, so keep adding more. Once it's smoothed out, and your sniffer can detect that the flour has cooked, add salt and pepper and some half and half or, in my case, whole milk:

Mix it up and then add some Parmesan to give a little depth to the flavor:

Yummmmm. Ok so here is where the picture get nasty. Once your roux is done, simply pour it over the chicken and peas:

Eh, still looks a little off, which does nothing for the deliciousness. Very hearty and somewhat rich but also very simple in flavors so you could spruce it up further with an array of flavors. More garlic, some oregano, anything! Enjoy!