After successfully making your own gnocchi, the next step would be to hunt for simple recipes that take a short time to make and everyone will love. That’s where gnocchi in a mild sweet tomato sauce with that floral basil aroma and fresh milky mozzarella comes in. This oven-baked gnocchi (gnocchi alla sorrentina) is a filling meal and comforting as well and will likely leave the whole family wanting more.
Most of the cooking doesn’t requiring much of your attention.
How to Make Tomato-Basil Sauce
Sauce: I used homemade passata for this recipe, which I believe tasted better.
1. Infuse olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat with the garlic cloves.
2. Then pour in the passata to reduce for about 7 minutes or until thickened enough.
3. Finally, nothing ups the ante to this sauce than fresh basil leaves, which would be best not cooked in the sauce. Instead, stirred through the hot tomato sauce, covered, and left to merge in flavors.
Please note: if you choose to use store-bought passata, it may be thicker which will require less time to ‘reduce’ compared to the homemade sauce.
Making Oven-Baked Gnocchi
Gnocchi: Make sure to add salt to the water before adding in the gnocchi. Why? because the gnocchi dough in this recipe is made with a small amount of salt, and should you chose to use store-bought, it may be that the gnocchi will have been made without salt.
Once the gnocchi floats to the top, drain and add it to the tomato sauce. Then stir in the fresh mozzarella and Parmesan/Parmigiano Reggiano. Add some fresh basil leaves.
Transfer the gnocchi into a casserole dish, and add carelessly torn mozzarella to the top of the gnocchi.
Bake: Baked in the oven at 225°C/437°F until the mozzarella is nicely melted and slightly browned. And that’s it.
What to Expect, How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
The oven-baked gnocchi keeps well even after a few hours and will not go mushy or soggy. Interestingly enough, the gnocchi holds their shape and might even slightly firm up.
Store: Keep the leftovers in the fridge and consume ideally within 24-36 hours.
Reheat: While some may reheat the leftovers in the microwave, I prefer to transfer them onto an oven-friendly plate and reheat them in the oven (uncovered) at 160°C/320°F for about 5-10 minutes or until hot enough.
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Oven-baked gnocchi with tomato and mozzarella
(+10 rating, 2 votes)
Loading...Pillowy soft oven-baked gnocchi stirred through basil-infused tomato sauce with Parmigiano Reggiano and fresh milky mozzarella. Quick, easy & family-friendly.
Ingredients
- 400g Gnocchi
- 4 tablespoons Olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- 360ml passata
- salt
- 6 fresh basil leaves
- 250g Fresh mozzarella
- 60g grated Parmigiano Reggiano/Parmesan
Instructions
MISE EN PLACE
Preheat the oven to 225°C/437°F
Add salt to a pot of water and bring that to a boil
SAUCE
Heat olive oil to a frying pan and add the garlic cloves, tilt the pan so the oil forms a puddle around the garlic, and let that infuse for a few seconds over medium heat. Take out and discard the garlic cloves before they start to brown.
Pour in the passata and salt to taste, stir with the garlic-infused oil and cover to reduce for 6 to 6.5 minutes stirring occasionally.
When ready, take the sauce off the fires and stir in 3 leaves of basil, cover and let infuse.
GNOCCHI
The water should be hot by now so add the gnocchi to the boiling water and after 1 minute, use a strainer skimmer ladle to stir the gnocchi. They should float within 3 minutes.
Strain the gnocchi and add to the tomato sauce, stir through and add the grated Parmigiano Reggiano/Parmesan and 2-3 leaves of fresh basil leaves.
Transfer the gnocchi into a casserole dish and top with some fresh mozzarella
BAKE
Bake for 15 minutes rotating the casserole dish halfway through. If the mozzarella has melted and seems slightly browned before the 15 minutes, you can take it out.
Serve with an extra sprinkle of grated Parmigiano Reggiano/Parmesan
Store any leftovers in the fridge
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