A few weeks ago, I popped into my mate Joe’s shop to buy some frozen gnocchi to make Sami Tamimi’s Instagrammed recipe.
As I was paying, Carmel gave me this brilliant suggestion for another incredibly easy gnocchi dish. She suggested baking the potato dumplings in sauce, from frozen, and told me that her daughter had absolutely loved the results.
I can never have enough simple dinner ideas at this time of year, so I picked up an extra packet of gnocchi to give it a go. As Carmel had advised, I poured in a layer of good tomato passata, scattered over the frozen gnocchi, then added a layer of defrosted pulled pork*…
This was topped with more passata and a mix of parmesan and mozzarella cheese, then baked in a 180C with fan oven until golden…
The serving plate was scraped clean! Next time I’ll put a bit more effort into the sauce, but as a proof of concept dish, this was fantastic – the gnocchi cooked to tender but not mushy and there was just one dish to wash up at the end of the meal!
*The pulled pork is optional (Carmel didn’t use it in her dish). Whenever I make pulled pork, I always freeze the leftovers in small takeaway containers for later meals. They defrost perfectly and can be used for a multitude of easy midweek dinners ranging from fancy ragus to toasted sandwiches.
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
This looks absolutely delicious!
Well fancy that – what a great idea! One of my favourite Italian family party foods was always pasta al forno – cooked pasta shells or tubes baked in the oven with pretty much whatever was to hand – sauce, cheese, chopped up ham, slices of hard boiled eggs – so I know I’d love this….and so easy to pull together :)
Like you, at this time of the year I’m looking for easy recipes and especially recipes where there isn’t a lot of clean-up involved. This sounds wonderful and I think I’ll try this one night this week xx
I must remember this one Celia. The days are getting busier and this is a perfect little supper.
Your resourcefulness as a cook never ceases to amaze me, Celia, love.
Yum! I love frozen gnocchi and have made similar dishes with it. Love a quick, tasty, no-brainer!
How brilliant! My elderly Mum loves gnocchi so I shall try this with mushrooms instead of the pork. Thank you Celia and Carmel.
Usually comfort food takes a long time and Carmel has turned that on its head. I can’t wait to try this.
G’day! It is only breakfast, but I am salivating for some of this now Celia!
Looks delicious! Cheers! Joanne
That is brilliant – and I still have pulled pork in the freezer from the last time.
Easy is always good in my book.
Oh my goodness this sounds divine! I usually make my own potato gnocchi and serve with a lamb ragout :)
Hi Celia, always looking for delicious quick meals, this one is a keeper!
I love gnocchi and this sounds like an absolute winner! One dish, quick and easy, meals are definitely favourites with me right now! Thanks for sharing :)
What a brilliant idea – have just put gnocchi on my list for when I am next in town.
Have a super Monday Celia.
:-) Mandy xo
I’ve been meaning to report that I tried Sami Tamimi’s gnocchi recipe, and it was fantastic! (I tweaked it by adding some sauteed spinach and subbing fresh basil for the parsley – it made a very quick and hearty one-dish meal.) I picked up a package of gnocchi today and hadn’t decided yet what to do with it – now I know. Thanks!
Looks yum. I have a pulled pork/pork rib question.. I used my new rom. for the first time today – for your pork rib recipe which made everyone happy, except not everyone wanted to eat meat from the bone.. Do you think that it would work to have the normal pork and pork ribs cooked in the same pot at the same time, given the similar cooking method? Then the ribs finished off in the grill? Trying to work out if it could make everyone happy on Christmas day.. Any Christmas Day menus would be awesome too… Too many questions I know..
So easy and delicious – like you said, perfect for this time of year :)
I will have to remember this one. Absolutely love the one dish to clean, I am over dishes everywhere, especially with holiday baking.
Now THAT is comfort food!!!
Brilliant! Never thought of trying it, although I must say I don’t remember last time I had gnocchi at home.
very nice idea to simplify life, and I am ALL for this type of move!
Happy Holidays, dear Celia!
What a brilliant idea indeed Celia! I’ve never head of baking it from frozen. I’ll definitely be making this at home, and I bet I could tweak it for an easy catering dish as well- thanks sweetie! Xox
This is like the gnocchi version of the one pot pasta craze!! I love love LOVE this! And the possibilities for the sauce are endless too. When I’m really short on energy (i.e. can’t even bring myself to get the garlic crusher out) I add a healthy dash of garlic and onion powder. It does wonders to add flavour to any tomato based sauce (as opposed to sautéing onion and garlic). Then you have a fantastic base to add other dried herbs and spices!
As many pasta casseroles that I’ve made, I’ve never thought to use gnocchi in one. This sounds so good, Celia, and adding the pulled pork is a great idea. The only issue I thought of was answered in your post: the frozen gnocchi didn’t get mushy when cooked. I’m going to spring this one on Zia some day. She enjoyed it when I used frozen cheese ravioli to make lasagna. This is just a variation on that theme. Thanks, Celia.
YUM… sorry I’m late to the party, but I’m just now catching up on all my emails from before Christmas :) Blogging is hard work! LOL this looks fabulous and will be nice with some left over Lamb Ham from Christmas :) Thanks for sharing! Liz x
Oh I love how simple this sounds & I’d say the pulled pork is a great idea. I have a feeling my husband would ask for this on a repeat basis.
Celia, I knew you would love them that way, I do like giving ideas to my customers. Anything to make life easier.