Gnocchi Minestrone Soup

My mom can make homemade minestrone soup in under 15min with no recipe (and no food!!!). This soup I made took a bit longer, but the taste was right.

Gnocchi Minestrone Soup
Serves 4
1 tsp oil
4 cups stock or broth (veggie or meat)
1 large carrot cut chopped
1/2 cup butternut squash chopped
1 onion
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 chopped cabbage
20 gnocchi
1 tsp tomato paste
Salt and Pepper
Herbs and parmesan

Lightly fry the carrots, butternut squash, onion and garlic on a medium heat. Add the stock or broth and mix in the tomato paste. Bring to a boil. Add the cabbage and gnocchi. When the gnocchi floats to the top the soup is ready. Check for salt and pepper and top with fresh herbs and or parmesan.

Gnocchi in Easy Tomato Sauce

No I didn't turn leftover mash into gnocchi, but feel free to try. I wanted to a clean simple sauce to go with them. A few weeks ago one of our house mates made mussels in tomato sauce I expected it to be gross but the sauce was so good. So I recreated it, but without the mussels.

Easy Tomato Sauce
Makes 1 1/2 cups
1 tsp oil
1 onion chopped fine
1/2 shallot chopped fine (could leave out or add use a whole one)
5 cloves of smoked garlic chopped fine
1 jar/can tomato puree
1 tsp mix herbs
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp paprika
Salt and Pepper

Cook the onions, shallot and garlic in the oil on med for 3 min. The onions are still going to be a bit raw but add the tomato puree. Rinse the jar or can with water and add the water to the pan. Mix in the herbs and spices. Bring to a low boil and then lower the heat and cook for 20 min. Check for salt and pepper.

We topped ours with parmesan (which was great) but now I'm thinking capers, or black olives would look really nice too.