When you’re at Nicole’s, you’re family. In this video, Nicole makes three copycat recipes for Olive Garden’s zuppa toscana, breadsticks, and salad! Whether it's a weeknight or a Sunday night dinner, this is a meal the entire family will enjoy.
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00:00They say when you're here, you're family,
00:01or something like that.
00:03They're so soft, mm-hmm.
00:06Welcome to my restaurant.
00:07Today's special, soup, salad, and breadsticks.
00:10I've got your perfect dinner idea for this week.
00:12I'm going Italian, and I'm going family style
00:14with Olive Garden's soup, salad, and breadsticks.
00:18Why don't we do this more often?
00:19They promote it for lunch,
00:21but I think it makes the perfect family dinner.
00:23I'm gonna keep it super easy for you,
00:25so this is a dinner that you could also make
00:28on a weeknight or a Sunday supper.
00:30Let's start with the soup.
00:31I'm making their famous zuppa toscana.
00:35This is creamy, it's hearty.
00:37So I'm just gonna start by chopping up an onion.
00:39So while I'm Italian, and we cook a lot of Italian food,
00:43one thing that you could know about us
00:45is that we also like Olive Garden.
00:47It's like my mom's favorite place to go
00:49when she wants to have a family dinner,
00:52but doesn't wanna cook.
00:53Onion, garlic, just all good Italian things.
00:57That's what it starts with.
00:58Now, we can head over to the stove, get our sausage going.
01:02Okay, so we're gonna render the fat out of this sausage.
01:05We know that's gonna create a base
01:06to carry the rest of our flavors throughout the dish.
01:09So I'm going to get it going
01:10with just the help of a little bit of oil.
01:13And then if you add your sausage, you know,
01:14while the pan is not fully hot,
01:16it'll all start to heat up
01:18and draw the fat out at the same time.
01:20So I took the sausage out of the casing,
01:22and I'm just kinda breaking it up.
01:23You know, this is one of those meals
01:25that makes you wanna just pour yourself a glass of wine
01:28while you cook.
01:29That's what cooking is.
01:30You know, it's all about the experience.
01:33You can see how much fat is rendered out,
01:34and I'm gonna give it a stir and break it up.
01:38This soup could also be made in the crock pot,
01:41so this is something you could get going before work
01:43and then, you know, make your salad and breadsticks
01:46when you get home.
01:47Wait till you see my little hack with the breadsticks.
01:50We're not gonna be kneading any dough, I can tell you that.
01:53All right, once the sausage is mostly brown,
01:55I'm gonna go in with my onion and garlic.
01:57We're gonna cook this down till the onions are soft
01:59and become translucent.
02:01I'm gonna let that just kinda soften and come together,
02:03and let's just chop up the potatoes real quick.
02:06These are just russet potatoes,
02:07and I'm gonna leave the peel on
02:10just to keep with that fartiness of the soup.
02:12And as I chop them up,
02:14I'm just gonna go ahead and add it straight into the pot.
02:17All right, and then I'm going in with some chicken broth.
02:19You could also just use water if you want,
02:21but you want everything to be just submerged.
02:24When we add this, we're gonna scrape the bottom of the pot
02:26and get all that flavor off the bottom.
02:28So I'm gonna go in with just about a cup of water to that.
02:32S***.
02:33Oh.
02:34Didn't know you were there.
02:36There we go.
02:36That is your base and could not be any easier.
02:40I'm going to add in a little bit of salt and pepper.
02:45That's it, I'm just gonna bring it to a boil
02:46and I'm gonna cover it and let it simmer,
02:49and I'll just cook that until the potatoes are tender.
02:50I forgot to tell you to be cooking off some bacon.
02:53I went ahead and did this.
02:55This is going to be our delicious topping.
02:56Now, you can see my little magic trick
02:59with homemade breadsticks.
03:04Frozen rolled dough.
03:06This is just the dough.
03:07We're gonna let them thaw out a little bit on here,
03:10and then we're gonna roll them
03:11into the shape of the breadsticks.
03:14I know they don't look like much now,
03:16but you just gotta trust the process.
03:18In the meantime, you can be melting some butter
03:21and get your salad stuff ready.
03:22Now, there is something about the Olive Garden salad.
03:26This is like my favorite kind of salad.
03:28The ingredients are very simple,
03:30so it's just iceberg salad blend.
03:32Little onion, really thinly sliced
03:34is kind of what you want here.
03:36Now, the tomatoes, for the sake of copycat,
03:39I'm gonna keep them in rounds.
03:41So, in with some black olives and the croutons.
03:45Cut up the tomatoes and never put them in there.
03:47And then a few of these guys.
03:50Okay, I'm not gonna toss it yet.
03:51You wanna toss it about five to 10 minutes before you eat.
03:54All right, these rolls thaw out in no time,
03:56and then you're going to roll it
03:57into like an eight-inch stick,
04:00and then we're gonna place it on a parchment lined sheet.
04:02You just wanna kinda keep it rounded,
04:03because they are like a rounded shape.
04:05So, I'm gonna go ahead and brush them with butter.
04:07That way, as they sit, they don't dry out.
04:10And then we're just gonna let them sit
04:11at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
04:12They're gonna rise a little bit,
04:14and then you just pop them in the oven,
04:15and they take no time to bake.
04:17Let's finish off the soup,
04:18and we're about to have dinner.
04:20All right, you can look and see
04:22the potatoes are all tender, sausage is cooked,
04:25but what we're missing is the creaminess.
04:28We take some heavy cream,
04:30and we're gonna stir in a little bit of flour
04:32and whisk that into the cream until it's fully dissolved.
04:35You don't want any chunks.
04:37Okay, and I'm gonna stir that into the soup
04:39and let it simmer until it's all thick and rich.
04:42And then also, at this point, I'm adding in the kale.
04:45I've already washed this
04:45and just kinda take the stems off.
04:47And this may look like a lot,
04:48but we know it's gonna shrink down
04:50just like any of our greens that we cook.
04:53Okay, and then this is just gonna simmer
04:54just for about 15 more minutes.
04:56I'll finish seasoning it up.
04:58Good to go.
04:59I like this.
05:01I could've shaped them maybe a little bit better,
05:03but you get the idea.
05:05They don't have to be perfect.
05:06These are homemade.
05:08Okay, so I'm gonna brush them with butter,
05:10lots of butter, and then sprinkle them
05:12with some garlic salt.
05:13You know how they're kinda like sandy on the top?
05:15That's what it is.
05:17They're so soft.
05:21You won't believe it.
05:23You won't believe it.
05:24See how pillowy soft in the middle,
05:27little toasty golden on the outside,
05:29buttery, salty, garlicky.
05:32The only problem is, at home,
05:34they're probably not unlimited.
05:36That could get dangerous.
05:39That's just cute.
05:40Let's go ahead and toss the salad
05:41before we finish off the soup
05:43so that it can be marinating in there.
05:45I've got it like that, looking juicy.
05:48I mean, come on.
05:50Would you care for any more salad?
05:52Back to business.
05:53Oh, the soup.
05:55Does that not look bomb.com?
05:58That was a mom comment.
06:00I'll admit.
06:00For the finishing seasoning,
06:02it's just a little bit of cayenne pepper to your liking.
06:07That needs nothing.
06:09Amazing.
06:10Call in the family.
06:11Dinner is served.
06:13Top it off with a little bit of crumbled bacon
06:16and a little bit of parsley.
06:18And why not?
06:21Welcome to my restaurant.
06:23Today's special, soup, salad, and breadsticks.
06:25Oh yeah, the salad is perfect now.
06:28It's like almost to the soggy, but not quite.
06:32Breadstick, A plus.
06:34Salad, perfect bite.
06:38Mm, this is my favorite part of the meal
06:44whenever I've gone to Olive Garden.
06:46I do, I fill up on the salad, I love it.
06:48Just like it, just like it.
06:51This is a great dinner.
06:53Great lunch if you are having, you know, the ladies over.
06:57What about the guys?
06:58I mean, my husband would love this.
07:00This is his favorite kind of soup.
07:05Mm, it's so satisfying
07:08because of the creaminess and the potatoes,
07:11but you get that little kick
07:13from that spicy Italian sausage.
07:15Feels a little bit healthy with the kale in there.
07:19That is a warm hug.
07:21It's like you're coming to grandma's for those hugs.
07:24That's what this Olive Garden soup, salad,
07:26and breadsticks is all about.
07:28Y'all should try this.
07:28It was like so easy to make,
07:30but it looks like you made multiple things
07:32and it was almost like you put a lot of effort into it,
07:36but they don't have to know.
07:37We can just know about our little cheat secrets here
07:40between the rolls and the dressing.
07:42You get it.
07:43It's a good one.
07:46I knew I forgot something.
07:48I'm working so hard.
07:50Forgot to reward myself.
07:54Cheers.
07:56Now the dinner is complete.