Leftover Madness Part 1 (Lamb and Gnocchi Soup)

I did a lot of cooking this week. And we have a ton of leftover roasted turkey from dinner at a friend's house. Our fridge is so full of leftovers that there's barely room for beer. It's a great problem to have, but I can only eat the same meal so many times in a row before I'm sick of it. 

So now it's time to clean the fridge and re-purpose our leftovers. Part 1 of our Leftover Madness is turning the remaining Lamb and Vegetable Roast into Lamb and Gnocchi Soup. This soup is pretty straight forward, and since it was made from leftovers that cooked in the crock pot all day, the flavors are a lot more developed than you would get from a quick soup. I used the leftover sweet potatoes to make the gnocchi and used the leftover liquid from the crock pot and veggies to make the soup.

For a while, Tommy was eating these gnocchi twice a day everyday. I've tried them with a lot of different combinations of flours and starches, and my favorite are millet flour and potato starch. You just mix all the ingredients together, roll into little logs, slice and boil for a couple minutes until they float. They're easy to make in a large batch and the uncooked gnocchi freeze well. You just pop the frozen gnocchi into boiling water and they just take a few minutes longer to cook. 

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

1 cup mashed sweet potatoes or pumpkin
1 cup millet flour
1 cup potato starch
1 Tbsp flaxmeal or whole psyllium husks
3 Tbsp hot water

1. Fill a medium sauce pot with water and bring to a boil. 
2. Combine flaxmeal or psyllium husks and hot water in a small bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes to gel.
3. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
4. Knead the dough by hand until it can be rolled into a log. If it's too sticky, add more flour or starch. If it's too dry, add water or stock 1 tablespoon at a time.
5. Roll into 1/2 inch diameter logs. Cut into 1 inch pieces.
6. Boil gnocchi in batches for several minutes until they float. Drain and set aside. Serve with sauce or use in soup. 

Lamb and Gnocchi Soup

1 recipe Sweet Potato Gnocchi
1 cup shredded cooked lamb or cooked Italian sausage
Leftover cooking liquid from Lamb Roast
Water
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
Leftover veggies from Lamb Roast

1. Measure leftover lamb cooking liquid. Add enough water to make it 4 cups. 
2. Add all ingredients except for gnocchi to a dutch oven sized pot.
3. Bring to a gentle boil.
4. Add gnocchi and simmer for 15 minutes.

Note: If you don't have leftovers, use 2 cups beef broth and 2 cups water instead of the leftover cooking liquid and add 2 tsp Italian seasoning. If you don't have any leftover roast, use 2 links of Italian sausage cooked in the pot before step 2.