Tomato & basil gnocchi

This is a fantastic example of how to turn cheap, humble ingredients into something elegant – an almost restaurant-quality dish. You can buy prepacked gnocchi, but you save money by making your own. You can make a lot of gnocchi from a few potatoes, and they can be frozen and kept for a couple of months to use when you need them. There’s a bit of work in shaping the gnocchi but they’re worth it! This quantity of potatoes will make enough gnocchi to freeze some for later.

SERVES 4

• 1kg potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks

• 1tbsp olive oil

• 1/2 onion, finely chopped

• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 1/2 red chilli, finely chopped (deseeded for a milder flavour)

• 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes

• 10 basil leaves, plus extra to serve

• 300g plain flour

• 20g Parmesan

Put the potatoes in a pan, cover with salted water and gradually bring to the boil. Simmer until completely soft.

Put another pot on medium heat and add the oil and the onion. Let the onion soften for 3-4min. Add the garlic and chilli and continue to cook for 2min. Keep everything moving around the pan to prevent it burning and sticking.

Add the tomatoes and then half fill 1 tin with water and pour that in too. Add the basil leaves and salt and freshly ground black pepper, give the sauce a stir, lower heat to low and let it bubble away for 30min. Check on it every 5min and stir to ensure that nothing sticks.

The potatoes should be nice and soft now, so drain them and mash them as well as you can. Try to ensure that there are no big lumps. Season with salt to taste.

Tip the mashed potato on to a large board and combine it with the flour.

Bring together and knead the mixture for about a min. It will start to resemble a dough. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and roll each piece into a long sausage shape. They should be about the circumference of a £1 coin.

Cut the dough into 2cm-long pieces. They don’t need to be perfect, but you can make them look more appealing by gently rolling the pieces over the back of a fork to give them a pattern. This can take time, but you can crack open a beer or have a glass of wine and enjoy the process!

When you have shaped all the gnocchi; blend the tomato and basil sauce to a consistency you like (I blend mine thoroughly as my kids are fussy and don’t like chunks in it). Put the sauce over low heat to keep warm.

Fill a pan with water and put on high heat until it comes to the boil. Add a handful of gnocchi at a time and boil for about 1min. You need to cook 120g of gnocchi per person (freeze the rest). When the gnocchi start to float, they are ready to serve.

Put another pan on medium heat and add a ladle of tomato and basil sauce for each portion along with ½ a ladle of the gnocchi cooking water. Add some cooked gnocchi and toss them in the sauce until nicely combined.

Serve the gnocchi with a dusting of Parmesan, a crack of black pepper and a few basil leaves.