GNOCCHI FILLED WITH MOZZARELLA IN TOMATO SAUCE

It’s always good to freeze tomato sauce if you’re lucky enough to have a glut of summer tomatoes, but if tomatoes aren’t in season just use good quality canned tomatoes instead. Potato gnocchi is always a welcoming dish when the weather is a bit chilly, baking the potatoes is a good way to warm up the kitchen nicely too.

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C fan/400°F/gas mark 6.

Prepare the baking tray by spreading the sea salt across the base and placing the whole scrubbed potatoes on top of it. Each potato should be sitting in its own little nest of salt.  Bake until they are just cooked through but not too soft, which should take about 55 minutes.

Meanwhile make the sauce. Heat 45ml/3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic and fry for 1–2 minutes on a low heat till fragrant, then add the tomatoes and stir together. Cook for 20 minutes on a low setting, stirring from time to time. Crush the tomatoes gently with the back of a spoon. Season to taste, then add the remaining 30ml/2 tablespoons of olive oil and continue cooking for another 10–15 minutes. Leave to one side until the gnocchi are ready.

When the potatoes are cooked, remove from the oven and leave them to cool for 5 minutes and then, using a cloth to protect your hands, halve each one and scoop out the flesh into a large bowl.  Mash the potatoes – you should end up with about 450-500g of mash – then leave the bowl to one side until the mash is completely cool. Discard the baking salt and the potato skins, or keep the skins to shallow fry later; they are nice and crispy alongside baked beans and a fried egg.

When you’re ready for the next step, add the egg yolks, flour and salt to the bowl of mash and combine together until you have a smooth mixture. Don’t over-mix or you’ll end up needing to add more flour, which will make the gnocchi heavy.

Tip the dough onto a clean worktop, dust it with flour then roll it into a fat rope approximately 2.5cm/1in across. Using a kitchen knife or dough scraper cut the dough into thumb-sized pieces. Now flatten each piece into a small pattie and place a cube or two of mozzarella into the middle of each one. Fold over and pinch the top to close the filling inside and roll into a ball. Continue making filled balls until all of the dough is used; you should have around 20 gnocchi.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil, season it generously with table salt and, when you have a good rolling boil, drop the gnocchi into the water. Cook for about 3 minutes until the gnocchi bob to the surface, then use a slotted spoon to transfer them into the tomato sauce together with a splash of the pasta cooking water.

Place the saucepan back on the heat for a minute or two until the tomato sauce is good and hot, check the seasoning and swirl all together. Scatter the basil leaves over, then serve the gnocchi with a generous grating of Parmesan over the top.