Eating the Italian way: Gnocchi

I love cooking with the freshest of the ingredients, especially fruits and vegetables. Well, unless it is literally plucked from the garden, it can only be as fresh as Sainsbury's can provide :p

Anyway, I love Italian food. After my homemade Indian and Chinese food (especially made by mom), I rate Italian one of the best cuisines that I can always be game for. Be it a regular pan pizza with minimal toppings to tortellini to gnocchi, italian food is both flavourful and inspiring... And quite simple too! :) I especially love cooking italian from scratch, the sauces for most of the time, but occasionally even the pastas and pizza base. You just need patience for them though…

Anyway, here is a simple gnocchi recipe for which I made the sauce from scratch. You can also make the gnocchi balls itself but that would be a different recipe. Will do a post soon :) 

Ingredients:

1. 100g tomatoes
2. Gnocchi
3. Dash of olive oil
4. 1 Onion chopped
5. 1 teaspoon minced garlic
6. 50g cheese, preferably mozzarella, but any will do
7. 1 cup mushrooms, halved
8. 1 cup red pepper, chopped

Procedure:

Step 1: First of all, heat a pan. Add a dash of olive oil and add the garlic and onions. Fry till golden.

Step 2: Then add the tomatoes, mushrooms and red peppers. You can also use cherry tomatoes but they have more tang if you prefer it. Simmer in medium heat till the ingredients become a bit saucy. Should take about 12-15minutes in high heat. Constantly stir or the ingredients will burn and stick to the bottom.

Step 3: Now add the gnocchi, reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Occasionally stirring the mix.

* Alternatively, for a quicker route, you can also bake the gnocchi with the prepared sauce and cheese in oven for 15-20 minutes at 180 degree Celsius.

Step 4: The gnocchi should be tender now. Add the cheese and again cover for 3-4 more minutes until the cheese melts. Give one last good stir and take it off the pan. Cool for 5 minutes and serve.

For the health freaks, this dish is in itself pretty healthy (save the cheese) with no additives. But if you still want a healthy alternative, just replace cheese with fat free cheese.

ENJOY!!!