Gnocchi with fresh tomato & spinach sauce

Yesterday’s alternative Sunday dinner. Now there are more vegetarians in the house than meat-eaters I tend to plan a home-comfort type of dish to end the week rather than a roast. This recipe is not only comfort food, but it barely takes any time to make - which is a double win in my book. I’ll definitely make this one again as it got an all round thumbs up from the fam, even from my daughter, who has been unconvinced about gnocchi until now.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 1 large garlic clove

• 4 large vine tomatoes, small dice

• 4 stalks of basil, stems chopped finely/leaves ripped

• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar

• 100ml crème fraîche

• 40g parmesan

• ½ tsp sea salt

• 120g spinach

• 1kg gnocchi

Method

• Preheat the oven to 50ºc.

• Heat ½ tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the garlic and let it fry for 30 seconds until it has started to turn slightly brown.

• Next add the tomatoes and basil stalks, simmer for 10 minutes.

• Heat ½ tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan and start cooking the gnocchi in batches on a medium heat for about 5 minutes, so they’re browned on both sides. I cooked about a portion at a time and kept in a warm bowl in the oven while I fried the rest.

• Add the balsamic to the tomatoes and cook for 1 minute before adding the crème fraîche. Turn the heat to the lowest setting so the sauce doesn’t split. Allow to warm through and then add 20g parmesan, basil leaves and spinach.

• Just before serving, stir the gnocchi into the sauce and serve with the rest of the parmesan and a green salad or roasted broccoli.