Baked gnocchi

This dish is comfort food in an instant! Fresh gnocchi is a great ingredient to make use of and freezes quite well if you fancy stocking up.

Credit: Donal's Meals in Minutes

• serves

  2

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ready-grated mozzarella is a handy fridge standby ingredient – perfect for scattering over bakes like this.

Ingredients

• 500 g fresh gnocchi
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp (45 ml) olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• Good pinch of chilli flakes
• 400 ml tomato passata
• 250 g frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
• 120 g grated mozzarella
• Sea salt and black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan-forced).
2. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the gnocchi for 2–3 minutes, or until they float to the surface. Drain and toss in a bowl with a tablespoon of the olive oil.
3. Heat the rest of the oil in the now empty saucepan and gently fry the garlic and chilli flakes. Add the tomato passata and spinach and heat through, seasoning to taste well with salt and pepper.
4. Add the gnocchi to the saucepan, mix into the sauce and then transfer to an ovenproof dish. Scatter with the grated mozzarella and bake for 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and is bubbling.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Ready-grated mozzarella is a handy fridge standby ingredient – perfect for scattering over bakes like this.