Lovely Gnocchi

I haven't been particularly good with this whole blogging thing. I would love to be able to say that I will get better and more consistent at it but years of experience tell me, that it's just wishful thinking.

Anyway... to food. Charlie made us some gnocchi for dinner last night. Whether armed with cameras and lenses or spatulas and sauce pans, Charlie definitely enjoys a challenge. And his gnocchi creations remain one of my favourite comfort meals. There's something really satisfying about their texture and squidgy-ness. Plus if you buy them ready made - they make an incredibly simple yet very impressive meal.

You will need:

a packet of gnocchi

1 tin of tomatoes

1 Tsb tomato purée

1 onion, cubed

1 red pepper, cubed

a couple of cloves of garlic, crushed

1 courgette, sliced

some olive oil and some sunflower oil

salt, pepper, Italian herbs (oregano, sage, basil, will do)

a touch of sugar

fresh fresh rocket

some parmesan to sprinkle on top

Fry the onion and season it with salt, pepper and herbs. Once the onion is slightly brown (but not too much!) add the pepper and fry for until the latter softens a bit. Add the tin tomatoes, tomato puree and more herbs. Stir it all ocassionally and add a bit of sugar to break the acidity of the tomatoes. Let the sauce simmer until it thickens. 

In the meantime slice the courgettes into long thin slices. My mum does it with a peeler and if only your peeler is good enough I'd recommend that. If not you can try the long, thin part of your grater (but be careful not to grate yourself) or just slice it with a knife. Put the courgettes in a frying pan with some olive oil and sunflower oil and garlic and fry until they go slightly brown and crispy on the outside.

Once the courgettes are done you can boil some water and cook the gnocchi. They should take about 5 minutes but do follow the instructions on the packet. After draining them you can do what Charlie sometimes does to add excitement to the dish - fry them for about 3 minutes in the pan that had the courgettes in. It is not necessary but does make them crispy on the outside without affecting the general softness.

Now that all the individual bits are done you can assemble the dish - put the gnocchi at the bottom, pour the tomato sauce on top of them. Then add a generous layer of rocket on top and then layer it with the fried courgette slices. To finish it off sprinkle with some parmesan. Viola!

I tend to add olive oil to it at the end and Charlie likes a touch of balsamic vinegar with this gnocchi recipe. They both work very well.

Gnocchi (sing. gnoccho) comes from Italian for lumps, probably deriving from the word nocca, meaning knuckle.