Gnocchi baked with corn and a goat cheese heart
A whole round of goat cheese goes in last and collapses into the sauce.
At a Glance
Story
The spinach goes in raw, at the bottom, looking like far too much. It loses roughly nine tenths of its volume under the foil and seasons the sauce as it goes. Wilting it first in a separate pan only costs you a pan.
Ingredients
- 12 oz shelf-stable gnocchi
- 3 oz corn kernelsfrozen or cut from the cob
- 4 oz grape tomatoes
- 3 oz baby spinach
- 3 tbsp roasted red peppersblitzed with a handful of almonds
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 oz goat cheeseleft whole
- ¾ oz Parmesanfinely grated
- saltpepper
Method
The red pepper pesto in the original comes in a packet. Roasted peppers from a jar, a handful of almonds and thirty seconds in a small blitzer gets you there, and you will have some left over for tomorrow.
- Oven to 450°F. Grate the Parmesan on the fine side.
- In a baking dish, pile in the spinach, gnocchi, red pepper pesto, cream, corn and tomatoes. Add ¾ cup of water. Season and stir thoroughly, right down to the corners.
- Cover tightly with foil. Bake 30 minutes.
- Foil off. Set the goat cheese in the middle, whole and defiant. Back in, uncovered, 4 to 6 minutes, until it slumps and the gnocchi give easily.
- Stir it through so the cheese streaks rather than disappears. Parmesan over the top.
Eat from shallow bowls. The corner pieces are the good ones and everybody knows it.
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