Puttanesca purists, look away now. This dish takes the traditional parts of a puttanesca – that’s, anchovies, capers, olives, tomatoes – and combines them right into a wealthy sauce for gnocchi, that are then coated in mozzarella, breadcrumbs and parmesan, and flashed underneath the grill. It’s precisely what you need on a wet evening. Actually, my sauce-averse toddler thought it smelled so good that she stole half of my plate – a win all spherical. (Though her fairly respectable suggestion was that subsequent time I take advantage of it as a pizza sauce, relatively than on pasta or gnocchi. Famous.)
Crispy baked gnocchi puttanesca
I’ve non-canonically added in small cubes of aubergine, as a result of they soften superbly into the sauce whereas including further plant matter. To make this vegetarian, omit the anchovies, add an additional spoon of capers and use a vegetarian parmesan.
Prep 15 min
Prepare dinner 30 min
Serves 2 adults and 2 young children
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 medium aubergine, trimmed and minimize into 1cm cube
½ tsp flaky sea salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely grated
2 tsp small capers in brine, drained
1 tsp anchovies in oil (about 5 small fillets)
75g black olives, drained
400g tinned chopped tomatoes
500g contemporary chilled or vacuum-packed gnocchi
150g ball mozzarella, roughly torn
40g white or panko breadcrumbs
40g parmesan
Warmth the oil in a big, ovenproof frying pan or casserole, then add the onion and stir-fry on a medium to excessive warmth for 5 minutes, till simply beginning to soften. Add the aubergine and salt, and prepare dinner, stirring ceaselessly, for an additional 10 minutes, till the aubergine has began to melt and brown.
Add the garlic, capers, anchovies and olives, and stir-fry for 30 seconds, mashing the anchovies nicely. Add the tinned tomatoes, carry to a boil, then flip right down to a simmer and prepare dinner for 10 minutes. (Notice: it helps to make use of an excellent model of tinned tomatoes right here – Mutti’s are incredible. Different manufacturers could take a bit longer to thicken sufficiently.)
Simply earlier than the sauce is prepared, carry a big pan of water to a boil, then drop within the gnocchi and prepare dinner in line with the packet directions (normally on a rolling boil for 2 to a few minutes). Drain nicely, then stir the gnocchi via the sauce.
Warmth the grill to medium-high. Scatter the mozzarella everywhere in the gnocchi. Combine the breadcrumbs and parmesan in a bowl, then scatter this over the mozzarella. Grill for 3 to 5 minutes, till the cheese has melted and the breadcrumbs and parmesan are well-browned, then serve sizzling.
