Gnommy Gnocchi in a basil & tomato sauce

Gnommy Gnocchi in a basil & tomato sauce

by | Sunday, 20 January 2013 | Big Noms

I found this recipe yeeeeeeeeeeears ago in one of those supplements that Sainsburys magazine used to do.  There’s no date on it that I can find, but given that it talks about gnocchi being a “recent arrival on the supermarket shelves” (!!) I guess I’ve been making it for a while… 😉  I credit the recipe’s survival on my bookshelf to it being a truly wonderful comfort food dish, all carby and silky and unctuous (what a fab word!) thanks to all that oozy melted gruyere.  It’s quite rich so probably isn’t something you’ll make often, but you’ll enjoy the arse off it when you do!

Some random thoughts – Four cloves of garlic might sound a bit much, but I do think the dish needs it to balance the strong cheese, but you might want to tone it down if you’re planning on being sociable afterwards.  Speaking of strong cheese, if gruyere is too much for you then fontina or comte would make a good substitute.  And if you want to show off then you could make your own tomato sauce from scratch – Hubby does this just to put me to shame, I must “ask” him to blog it for me now that I think about it…

PS

Gnocchi in a Tomato & Basil Sauce
Serves 4
A delicious pasta dish with a silky, unctuous tomato and cheese sauce that is perfectly comforting.
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Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
35 min
Total Time
40 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
35 min
Total Time
40 min
Stuff you’ll need…
  1. 500g pack gnocchi die patate
  2. 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  3. 1 large white onion, finely chopped
  4. 4 cloves garlic, minced or finely chopped
  5. 30g fresh basil leaves, roughly torn
  6. 1 heaped tsp tomato puree
  7. 142ml whipping cream
  8. 100g gruyere cheese, grated
  9. olive oil
  10. salt and black pepper
Cook!
  1. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the medium saucepan over a medium-high heat, then add the onions and sautee for about five minutes until they’re soft and the edges are browning. Add the garlic and sautee for another 2-3 minutes before adding the tomatoes (tin and puree). Season well with salt and black pepper and then pop the lid on to cover and simmer gently for about 15 minutes.
  2. Next, add the cream and about 3/4s of the basil, and give everything a good stir. Turn the heat up a little and cook for another 15 minutes, giving it a stir every now and then. No lid this time, you want the sauce to reduce and thicken slightly.
  3. About five minutes before the sauce will be done put the kettle on and pour the hot water into the large saucepan and set it over a high heat. When the water is properly boiling, salt the then place the gnocchi in the water.
  4. Put the grill on high so that it can preheat while the gnocchi cooks, which should only take a minute or two before they start bobbing up to float on top of the water, at which point scoop them out using a draining spoon and place them straight into the ovenproof dish (about 1.5 litre/2.5 pints capacity).
  5. Once all the gnocchi is in the dish, pour the tomato sauce all over them and then gently turn the gnocchi over in the sauce so that they’ve all got a good coating of the stuff. Next, sprinkle the cheese over the top before popping it under the grill to get the cheese bubbling. It should only take 2-3 minutes but leave it under for longer if you prefer your cheese brown in bits. Finally, scatter the rest of the basil over the top and serve! I can highly recommend having some crusty bread on hand to scoop up the dregs of the tomato sauce, it’s too tasty to waste 🙂
Adapted from Sainsburys Magazine
Adapted from Sainsburys Magazine
fifigoesnom http://www.fifigoesnom.com/

 – sorry for the awful pun in the title, I just couldn’t resist 😉

 

Mediterranean-Style Deli Wraps

Mediterranean-Style Deli Wraps

by | Saturday, 26 May 2012 | Lunchbox

It’s National Vegetarian Week, so in its honour we had a meat free lunch today which was anything but a hardship when lunch was as tasty as this!  The flavour combo is mediterraneanish, but more by accident than by design, and was really a result of what was available at the deli counter that struck my fancy.  The saltiness of the feta is a fantastic counterbalance to the sweetness of the hummus especially if, like me, you like caramelised onion hummus rather than plain.  If you don’t like feta then something like a ricotta does just as well, and if you can find any wee red peppers at the deli counter that are already stuffed with your cheese of choice (like the ones in the picture), even better!  And much as I like to make my own couscous sometimes I just can’t be arsed, like today, in which case may I recommend M&S’s roasted vegetable couscous as a perfectly good lazy alternative to homemade.

Lastly, the griddle pan bit is purely decorative and entirely optional.  I just like the way it makes those pretty brown lines on my wrap 🙂

Mediterranean-Style Deli Wraps
Easy vegetarian wraps that you can toss together in minutes using all store-bought ingredients.
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Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
5 min
Total Time
10 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
5 min
Total Time
10 min
Stuff you’ll need...
  1. Tortilla wraps
  2. Hummus
  3. Couscous
  4. Feta, small cubes or chunks
  5. Marinated red peppers (like Peppadew), sliced
  6. Rocket
Make!
  1. Smear about two knifes worth of hummus in the middle of the wrap and spread it up and down the middle, leaving about an inch from the opposing edges of the wrap clear.
  2. Add about 3 tablespoons of the couscous on top of the hummus and level into an oblongish sausage shape.
  3. Sprinkle the feta and red pepper slices over the top, then follow with some rocket.
Wrap!
  1. The easiest way I’ve found is to position the wrap so that the oblong of filling runs length ways from left to right.
  2. Fold the the left hand edge over the filling, and then do the same with the right hand edge.
  3. Hold these in place, and take the bottom of the tortilla wrap and fold it over the filling and then roll the wrap up. This should give you two “sealed” ends which makes eating far less messy.
Griddle
  1. If you have a griddle pan, heat it up and then place the wrap on it with the fold side down and press the whole thing down gently.
  2. After a minute or two, lift to see if the pan has left the griddle marks on the wrap yet. When it has, and the marks are brown enough, turn the wrap over and do the same on the other side.
  3. Cut in half, plate up, and scoff!
fifigoesnom http://www.fifigoesnom.com/