Soft gluten-free potato gnocchi folded through a long-simmered garlic tomato sauce, topped with mozzarella and baked until the edges catch and blister.
Prep
15 mins
Cook
40 mins
Servings
4
Per serving
£1.80
Difficulty
easy
A one-dish supper built around the idea that gnocchi does not need boiling first if the sauce is loose enough to cook it. The gnocchi goes into the pan raw, drinks up the tomato, and comes out of the oven with a crisp lid of cheese over a soft, saucy middle.
Heat the oven to 200C fan. Warm the olive oil in a wide ovenproof frying pan or shallow casserole over a medium-low heat and add the sliced garlic. Let it sizzle gently for two minutes until it smells sweet and is just turning pale gold at the edges, not brown.
Stir in the tomato puree and cook it for a full minute, pressing it against the hot base of the pan. This takes the raw tinny edge off and deepens the colour to brick red.
Tip in both tins of chopped tomatoes, then half-fill one tin with water, swirl it out and add that too. Add the oregano, sugar, chilli flakes if using, salt and pepper.
The extra water looks like too much at this stage. It is not, because the raw gnocchi will absorb a surprising amount of it in the oven.
Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce has thickened slightly but is still visibly loose and pourable.
Take the pan off the heat. Tear in two thirds of the basil and fold in the raw gnocchi so every piece is coated. Shake the pan to settle everything into an even layer.
Scatter over the mozzarella and then the hard cheese. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until the top is patchy gold and the sauce is bubbling up the sides of the pan.
Let it stand for five minutes before serving, then scatter the remaining basil over the top.
The standing time matters. Straight from the oven the gnocchi is still firm in the middle, and those five minutes let it finish softening in the residual heat.