Gnocchi alla Puttanesca al Forno (Puttanesca Baked Gnocchi)
Gnocchi alla Puttanesca al Forno (Puttanesca Baked Gnocchi) is a modern Italian recipe for a dish of potato gnocchi baked in a puttanesca-style tomato sauce with mozzarella. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Italian version of: Puttanesca Baked Gnocchi (Gnocchi alla Puttanesca al Forno).
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This dish is based on Spaghetti alla puttanesca, a pasta dish invented in the Italian city of Naples in the mid-20th century, typically made with tomatoes, olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, peperoncino, and extra virgin olive oil. Here the puttanesca sauce (or a simplified version) is used as a flavour base in which to cook gnocchi. For the original pasta dish see this site's recipe for spaghetti all aputtanesca.
Ingredients:
2 x 400g tins of cherry tomatoes
olive oil for frying
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tbsp capers, drained
60g black pitted Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
5 anchovy fillets in oil, finely chopped
two pinches of sugar
500g shop-bought gnocchi (or make your own according to this potato gnocchi recipe or semolina gnocchi)
1 x 125g ball mozzarella, torn
Method:
Tip one of the tins of tomatoes (with their juice) into a blender and blitz until smooth. Scrape into a bowl and set aside.
Place a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Once hot add a generous glug of oil and use to fry the onion with a generous pinch of salt for 8–10 minutes until soft and translucent.
Add the chilli and all the tomatoes into the pan, reduce the heat, then simmer the mixture for 10 minutes, uncovered. Fill one of the empty tins a quarter full with water and add this to the sauce.
Stir through the capers, olives and anchovies. Season with salt, black pepper and a couple of generous pinches of sugar. Cook over gentle heat, uncovered, for a further 5 minutes. Keep warm until needed.
Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add the gnocchi and cook for 2 minutes. Drain and toss with the tomato sauce, then turn into an oven-proof dish or shallow casserole. Top with the torn mozzarella and a generous grating of black pepper then set under a high grill (broiler) for 3-4 minutes.
Or, if using an air fryer, heat it to 170C. Add the pasta to a baking dish that will fit in your air fryer and top with mozzarella, plus a geneous grinding of black pepper. Air fry for 10 minutes or until the mozzarella is molten and gooey.
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