Gnocchi Bake, with Loads of Veg

I may have been off the blogging radar for a while, but I do have a pretty good excuse; I handed in my two dissertations on Monday. The culmination of a good two months of work, I can’t say I wasn’t happy to see them go, but now I have no excuse not to do revision for the exams I have in the coming weeks, which to me is a far less appealing prospect. Not to worry, it’ll all be over on the 1st of June, when regular blogging will resume. In the meantime, I’m not cooking that much, let alone blogging about new recipes, so you’ll have to make do with this delicious Gnocchi Bake, which has been my go to supper following a long day in the library. 

The origin of this recipe comes in the form of the Good Food website, but from these beginnings it has slowly evolved to include whatever I might have in the fridge, extra mozzarella, and as many different vegetables as is humanly possible to cram in a pyrex dish. 

And the results? Really tasty comfort food, with plenty of vegetables to make it healthy, and the same again of delicious pools of mozzarella to cancel all that out. 

Serves 2/4 (depending on greediness)

1 tbsp olive oil

500g pack of Gnocchi, cooked according to packet instructions

1 leek, sliced

a good handful of mushrooms, chopped small

1 onion, chopped small

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1 courgette, chopped small

1 carrot, chopped small

1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped small

400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 tsp dried oregano

handful of basil leaves, torn, plus more to garnish

1 ball of mozzarella, sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Heat the oil in a large deep frying pan, then soften the onion, mushrooms, leeks and courgette. After around 5 minutes, add the carrot and pepper, and then the chopped tomatoes. Add the gnocchi and stir.
2. Season, add the oregano, stir through the basil, and pour into an ovenproof dish. Push half the goats cheese into the mixture, and then scatter the rest on top. Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes, until the mozzarella is bubbling and golden.
3. Serve with a scattering of basil leaves.