Tomato and basil gnocchi
I made this meal when I was challenged to make budget meals for under £1 per portion. Now whether that’s still applicable with all the price hikes and cost of living crisis, I’m not so sure, but it still remains a hopefully low cost meal that’s delicious and easy to GNOCC up…I’m so sorry, couldn’t resist.
Anywayyyy, homemade gnocchi is something that everyone should give a go as it’s not as tricky as it looks. Once you get in the rhythm, it’s pretty fun and a bit therapeutic tbh. I paired my gnocchi with a simple tomato and basic sauce as sometimes, less is more. I even threw in a little spinach to up the veggie count and it’s a great way to sneak in some greens if you’ve got any picky kiddies to cook for. You can also watch me make the dish here.
For more main meal inspo, check out more of my recipes here.
Ingredients
- 500g baked mash potato (about 2 baking potatoes)
- 2 free range medium sized eggs
- 50g finely grated Mature cheddar, plus extra for garnishing
- 100g ‘00’ flour
- Salt and pepper, to season
- 420g pack of cherry toms, halved
- 1/2 bulb of garlic, cloves sliced
- 1/2 bunch of basil, torn
- Large handful of baby spinach
- 2/3 tbsp mild olive oil
Method
- Preheat your oven to 200°C.
- Fork your spuds and place straight into the oven on the racks. Bake for around 45-60 minutes until soft on the inside.
- Once cooked scoop out the soft inside and pass through a sieve.
- Whilst still warm add in the cheese and a load of salt and pepper.
- Crack your eggs in and with your hands smush it all together.
- Once fully combined add in 2/3’s of your flour to start forming a dough. Add in the rest of your flour and knead until is isn’t sticky.
- Quarter up the dough and roll out a quarter at a time into a slithery snake shape… haha and using. Knife cut pillow shapes about an inch in length.
- Leave them on a floured surface whilst your boil some salted water.
- Cook the gnocchi off in batches. They are ready when they float to the top.
- Drain them on to an oiled tray, keep a couple of mugs full of pasta water for your sauce.
- In this time make your sauce, in a hot pan add the half the oil and the garlic, cook for 30 seconds then add in most of your tomatoes.
- Cook until they have all softened and are juicy. Add the remaining tomatoes.
- Add in the saved pasta water and leave to reduce and thicken, about 10 minutes.
- Whilst the sauce is on fry off your gnocchi in a frying pan with the remaining oil. You may have to do this in batches too. Turn them so they are bronzed all over.
- When the sauce has reduced, add in the spinach and basil.
- When the spinach as wilted add in the fried gnocchi and stir to combine.
- Serve up with an extra grate of mature cheddar and some spare basil leave if you have them. Bone apple teeth x