Baked Gnocchi with Sausage & Mozzarella

Ingredients

• 400g pork sausages, meat removed from skins
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 400g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 100g baby spinach
• 700g potato gnocchi
• 200g mozzarella, torn
• 50g grated pecorino
• sea salt and black pepper, to taste
• Crusty ciabatta, to serve
• Dressed rocket salad with shaved parmesan, to serve
• Fresh basil, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C fan. Get a large ovenproof frying pan hot over medium-high heat with the olive oil, then add the sausage meat in two batches, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Crowd the pan all at once and the meat steams in its own water — give it room and you'll get proper browning and crisp, caramelised edges in 6–8 minutes. Season the sausage generously with salt and pepper as it cooks.
2. Drop the heat to medium and add the onion to the sausage fat. Cook for 4–5 minutes until soft and glossy, scraping up any sticky brown bits from the base — that fond is pure flavour. Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant, 30 seconds, no more. Burnt garlic turns the whole dish bitter, so watch it like a hawk.
3. Stir in the tomato purée and oregano and let them toast in the oil for 30–60 seconds until fragrant — raw purée tastes tinny, bloomed purée tastes of roasted tomato. Tip in the halved cherry tomatoes with a splash of water to help them break down. Simmer for 8–10 minutes, pressing the tomatoes against the pan, until they collapse into a sauce that's reduced, glossy and slightly sticky.
4. Stir the baby spinach through in handfuls until just wilted. Taste, season, taste again — the ragu should be robust and faintly sweet, with the salt pulling the tomato and sausage together. Adjust now, not at the table.
5. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil and salt it generously — it should taste like the sea. Drop in the gnocchi and cook for 1–2 minutes, until they bob to the surface. Drain and tip straight into the ragu with half the mozzarella, tossing gently so every piece is coated but still pillowy.
6. Transfer everything to a shallow ovenproof dish (or leave it in the pan if it's oven-safe). Scatter the remaining mozzarella and the pecorino over the top in an even layer — you want full coverage so it melts into a single molten sheet.
7. Bake for 15–18 minutes until the top is bubbling and golden, the cheese blistered in patches, and the edges caramelised where the sauce has caught the dish. Rest for 3 minutes — the ragu thickens as it settles and the gnocchi stop being lava-hot.
8. Spoon onto plates, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, and scatter torn basil leaves over the top so they wilt in the steam.