Monday 11 November - Gnocchi Meatball Bake

I decided to make this after a post on the Facebook food group I belong to - Tracy Mearns had posted a photo of some that she made and it looked delicious.

For the meatballs I used half a pack of pork mince and mixed it with a handful of dried breadcrumbs, a handful of grated parmesan, some oregano, salt and pepper and added an egg yolk to bind it all together. I made marble sized meatballs out of this, and fried them for about 20 minutes in a splash of olive oil. I find the longer you cook meatballs the more delicious they end up.

In the same pan I made a basic tomato sauce - chopped onion, garlic, a tiny bit of dried chilli and some fresh basil were fried until soft.

Then I added one carton of chopped tomatoes and the same amount of water .

I cooked it all for about half an hour, then added the cooked meatballs and simmered again for another half hour

I then cooked one pack of fresh Gnocchi for about 3 minutes, drained it and stirred the meatballs and sauce in. Then into the serving dish where I added more fresh basil and a torn mozzarella

This was then baked in a hot oven for about 20 minutes.

 

Three of us managed to eat all of this!