This month’s theme for IMBB (Is My Blog Burning) is dumplings of all shapes, sizes and flavours and is hosted by Jarrett of Food Porn Watch.

I had great plans to make some lovely pork dumplings with water chestnuts and mushrooms, however, I couldn’t find any wonton wrappers and really didn’t want to attempt to make them myself. I would have visited Chinatown in London to pick up all the ingredients but after two quite disastrous trips into town earlier into the week I didn’t feel that my temper would withstand a further trip….

So, I decided to look around my kitchen for inspiration and promptly realised that not only were gnocchi dumplings, but I had two packages waiting in the cupboard for me to adorn with a delicious sauce. I know that commercial gnocchi are undoubtably a travesty for Italians, however, I find them to have great taste and texture and are undoubtably the most convenient staple food to come out of my kitchen.

This recipe uses a very quick ragu to provide massive amounts of flavour with minimal effort. Previous versions have used some of my four-hour ragu which is just a little too rich when combined with the gnocchi and parmesan. You could add in celery, carrots, sliced mushrooms or whatever vegetables you have handy. It’s really quite an amenable recipe. Some sliced mozzarella placed on top of the gnocchi (before the top layer of sauce) would also be rather nice.

Gnocchi Al Forno

Serves 2 very generously
WW points (UK): 11

240g extra-lean beef mince
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
1 green pepper, finely chopped
500ml carton of passata
1/3 jar tomato & basil sauce (optional – I had some left-over so chucked it in)
2tsp Italian Herb mix
400g pack gnocchi di patate
35g parmesan cheese, grated
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 7.

Heat a medium (10″) non-stick frying pan over moderate heat. Fry off the mince, onion, garlic and green pepper until the meat is browned and the vegetables are soft and fragrant. Pour over the passata and tomato sauce, mix well. Add the herbs and season well. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes until sauce is thick.

Cook the gnocchi in a large pot of boiling salted water according to packet directions.

Cover the base of a medium sized baking dish with half the sauce. Place the gnocchi evenly on top. Spread the rest of the sauce over the gnocchi and sprinkle the grated cheese on top.

Bake for 20 minutes until the cheese is nice and crusty and the sauce is bubbling around the edges. Leave to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.