The fact it’s January, the cold weather and the short daylight hours has left me wanting a comforting dish from time to time, especially one that’s budget friendly, and this dish definitely ticks the boxes. I was inspired to make it after a favourite veggie lunch from Coco di Mama got revamped to now include Beef. I’d been craving this dish and figured it shouldn’t be too hard to recreate at home. I’m very much a cheese lover, so have made it more cheesey. It turned out to be a super easy and delicious dinner which has gone down well with all the family. This dish is a great way to use up any cheese you may have left over from Christmas (that is if there are any leftovers!). The gnocchi bake is very budget friendly – I picked up all the ingredients at Lidl* and it cost around £3 and made 4 servings. At 75p a serving, it was a saving of £4 on the Coco di Mama dish – that’s quite a saving. It’s also a great dish for the next day if you have any leftovers – we took some leftovers in for lunch the following day and Adrian and I both agreed it tasted better than the night before. There were quite a few positive comments at work from colleagues and requests for the recipe so here it is.
Tomato & 3 Cheese Gnocchi Bake
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 35-40 mins
Total time: 45-50 mins
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 250g cherry tomatoes chopped
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 2 tbsp sun-dried tomato puree
- 500g pack fresh gnocchi
- half a 125g ball mozzarella, torn into chunks
- grated cheddar
- Parmesan – grated
Method
- Add the oil to the pan and fry the onions on a slow heat until the onions have softened.
- Add the crushed garlic and sun-dried tomato purée and cook for 2 minutes more.
- Add the chopped cherry tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes before adding the tinned tomatoes to the pan.
- Let the tomatoes cook for about 15 minutes on a slow heat so that the liquid reduces and the naturally sweet flavour of the tomatoes can develop. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the gnocchi straight to the pan with the tomato sauce and stir in. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the gnocchi is cooked through.
- Transfer to an oven proof dish. Add the torn mozzarella, making sure to spread it out around the dish. Add the grated cheddar cheese on top & then lightly sprinkle over the grated parmesan.
- Place the dish under a medium grill until the cheese has melted and is golden brown (there is actually no baking involved in this ‘bake’)
- Remove from the grill and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. Great by itself or equally great with a side salad.
Enjoy!
*This isn’t a sponsored post or ad – I’m just genuinely trying to save money and do most of my food shopping in Lidl or Aldi now.