Day 332: Olive Garden Breadsticks

I brought the Olive Garden to our house tonight as I made my Zuppa Toscana (Oh my, remember when I made that for Day 1 of this blog???  Feels like forever ago!), a garden salad, and luscious garlic breadsticks.  I can't believe that I only have about 1 month left of this 365-day dinner-tracker!  I feel almost nostalgic as I think back to day 1 and the excitement I felt to start this blog.

The original recipe for the soup can be found from the link above, but it requires using a slow-cooker and letting the soup cook all day.  I didn't get the soup started today before I left the house and when I got back, the afternoon just started slipping away from me!  But I really wanted to have this soup for supper, so what was I to do?  If you want to make this dinner in less than 5 hours of slow-cooker simmering, here's the plan:

Preheat the oven to 400*.  Cut up the potatoes, drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle them with garlic powder.  Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.  In a dutch oven, over medium heat on the stove, heat some olive oil and brown the sausage.  Add the onions and garlic to the pan.  (Using a dutch oven for the whole soup will keep the flavor of the browning sausage in the same pan, and if the soup isn't cooking for 5+ hours, you'll need all the flavor-boosters you can get!  (At this point, I poured in about 1/2 cup of white wine--that's not on the original recipe!)  Add the chicken stock.  But, instead of using 32 oz of chicken stock and water for the rest of the liquid, I just used 48 oz of chicken stock to enhance the flavor (see my point above).  Then, I added the potatoes to the soup and stuck the pot into the 400* oven.  When I was almost read to serve, I took the pot out of the oven and put it over low heat on the stove.  I added the heavy cream and kale and a little salt and let the soup continue simmering on the stove until ready to serve.  Voila!  Zuppa Toscana in about an hour and a half! :)

Olive Garden Breadsticks
My breadsticks didn't come out quite as light a fluffy as Olive Garden's, BUT.. the bread itself is sweet while the buttery goodness on top is garlicky and salty.  The flavor-profile is complete for this second Olive Garden recreation.  My favorite thing about these breadsticks is they only have to rise once, and for under an hour.  And they bake in only 15 minutes!  Easy and fast bread from scratch!

1 pack of active, dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 TB butter, softened
4 1/4 cups flour
2 TB sugar
1 TB salt
1 1/3 cup warm water

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, pour in the 1/4 cup of warm water and sprinkle in the yeast.  Let stand for about 5 minutes.  Add the butter, flour, sugar, salt, and warm water.  Mix on low until the dough comes together and is sticky.  Dump out onto a floured surface and knead by hand for a few minutes.  Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces and roll the pieces out into small logs on baking sheets covered with parchment paper, lightly kneading the dough as you go.  Cover the breadsticks with a towel and let rise for about 45 minutes.
For the topping, I melt about 3 TB of butter and sprinkle in some garlic powder, salt, and dried oregano, all to taste.  I brush this mixture over each breadstick and bake in a 400* oven for 15 minutes.  When they come out of the oven, I recreate the same butter mixture and brush it over them again.  Then, I lightly sprinkle some salt on top of the breadsticks.  Serve warm.