Gnocchi with a tomato & thyme sauce, spinach and ricotta

Paul's picture
Submitted by Paul on October 2, 2015 - 2:12pm
Ingredients: 

500g potatoes

3 shallots

few handfuls spinach

25g fresh thyme

1 can (400g) tomatoes

500g ricotta

200g plain flour

2 cloves garlic ​

Course: 
Main Course
Serves: 
4
Cooking Time: 
25 Mins
Method: 
  1. Peel and boil the potatoes as you would usually and then mash them. A ricer works best to help make the mash silky smooth. Now place in a bowl, season well with salt and pepper and incorporate the flour into the mash - the mixture will begin to form into dough. Once you have a dough, turn out on to a dusted surface and knead for two minutes (not too rough), then break off the dough into three pieces and roll into three sausage shapes (about 3cm in thickness) and then cut the sausage shapes into pieces around 2cms in length. Set to one side for use later.
  2. Get a pan on the heat, add a little drizzle of olive oil, finely dice the shallots and add to the pan. Gently cook the shallots for 2 minutes and then add 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic and cook for a further 30 seconds. Now add the tomatoes and half a cup of water. Season and simmer for 20 minutes to reduce the sauce down a little (just add a little water if the sauce is getting to thick). After 20 minutes add some finely chopped thyme and turn the heat right down, but make sure the sauce stays hot.
  3. Now get a large pan of water up to the simmer and add the gnocchi. They will take about 2 minutes to cook and will rise to the surface when done. Remove and drain the gnocchi and place in a large bowl. Then add the ricotta (crumble between your fingers before you add), three good handfuls of spinach, and finally the hot tomato sauce (make sure the sauce is hot as you want to wilt the spinach leaves down a little) and give it all a good mix through.
  • Alternitavely, place the gnocchi in an oven proof dish, add the ricotta, spinach and tomato sauce and grate some cheese on top before placing in a pre-heated oven at 180 for approx 15-20 minutes to melt the cheese.