Gnocchi and Fontina Cheese Bake

Tonight I dine alone. Basically this means I can eat whatever I choose, which while still somewhat in a lazy mood, I am making a Gnocchi and Fontina bake. A slightly more pleasing version of mac and cheese. D isn’t too fond of Gnocchi or Fontina for that matter so tonight I feast on my favourite comfort food. Usually I would have Gnocchi with a Gorgonzola cream sauce, but with no Gorgonzola or cream, I opted for a mystery box challenge that is the contents of my fridge. To be perfectly honest, I’m kinda lonely and missing my other half and the kitten who gratefully received his food earlier, is nowhere to be seen. So in my fridge is some fresh Gnocchi (I will one day make my own), some flat mushrooms, a tomato, Fontina cheese and some milk. And I have some stale pieces of my tomato bread which I will make into breadcrumbs. Yum!

GNOCCHI AND FONTINA CHEESE BAKE

• 1 onion, diced
• 5 medium flat mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1 large tomato, cut into big chunks
• 75 ml milk
• 2 knobs of butter
• 400 g Gnocchi
• 80 g Fontina cheese, grated
• 1 tbsp of fresh dill or 1 tsp of fresh rosemary
• 2 tbsp of creme fraiche
• handful of breadcrumbs
• seasoning

THE HOW

Heat the oven to 190 °c  (fan oven) or gas mark 5.

Fry the onion and mushrooms for 2 minutes with 1 knob of butter just to soften.

In a bowl put the tomato, onion and mushroom mix and dill or rosemary.

Meanwhile boil the Gnocchi in salted water for 2 minutes until they start to float to the top. Drain and set aside. In the pot, heat the butter, milk and half the cheese and seasoning. Add the Gnocchi and stir. Pour this mix into the bowl with the onion and mushrooms and stir. Pour into an oven dish and scatter with remaining cheese and breadcrumbs (adds a nice textural difference to the soft filling). Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Serving mine with a crunchy green salad and a glass of vino while I curl up on the sofa and watch the great British Bake Off…Bliss!