Its Fathers’ day inthe UK tomorrow :o) I’m really looking forward to seeing my parents and treating them to a nice meal out. And I’ve got all my ingredients ready to make a yummy vegan chocolate cake to have with a cuppa beforehand.
The only downside is that I’ve spent all of today cleaning the house and trying to make it presentable! Nevertheless, I had promised myself that I would write up a post tonight. So despite my tired eyes and achy-sore fingers, here is my recipe for a tomato and mascarpone, gnocchi bake.
Tomato and mascarpone, gnocchi bake (4 servings).
Ingredients:
- 1 x cup fresh cherry-plum tomatoes (halved)
- 1 x medium onion (chunkily diced)
- 2 x garlic cloves (minced)
- 2 x handfuls fresh spinach (torn)
- 349g of silken tofu (i.e. one pack)
- 500g gnocchi (double check its egg and dairy free!)
- 1 x cup dairy free cheese (grated)
- 2 x tbsp. nutritional yeast (optional but highly recommended!)
- 1 x tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 x cup veg stock
- 3 tsp olive oil
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Method:
- Pre-heat the oven to 160oC
- Arrange the tomatoes and onion on a baking tray and drizzle with a teaspoon of olive oil. Add a few grinds of black pepper before roasting for 20 mins.
- In the meantime, fry the garlic in 1 teaspoon of olive oil until it starts to brown (5 mins).
- Add the tinned tomatoes, stock, salt and pepper and simmer until the liquid has reduced by two-thirds (around 30 minutes). Take off the heat and use an immersion blender to whizz in the nutritional yeast and tofu. Blend until smooth then heat until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Fry the gnocchi in 1 tsp of olive oil until browned (5-10 mins). This really adds depth to the flavour of the dish.
- Put the gnocchi, cherry tomatoes and onion into an oven-proof dish along with the spinach.
- Stir in the sauce, then top with the breadcrumbs.
- Increase the oven temperature to 180 oC and bake for 20 – 30 minutes (until piping hot throughout – the breadcrumbs should go golden brown).
- Top with the dairy free cheese (sorry to obsess but I really recommend this smoked coconut gouda!) and pop under the grill until the cheese is melty.
- Dish up and enjoy a nice warming, tasty and satisfying dinner!
Flash-Gordonette…X
