One-pot baked tomato and mozzarella gnocchi

+ a love letter to motherhood

Feel free to skip this week’s extremely cringe, slightly personal and cheesy introduction – I was feeling the love today, but if that’s not your vibe, I hope the easy one-pot dinner recipe that comes after will be.

I thought I knew what love was.

I thought I knew what love was, until I found I could get up three, four, five times in the night to feed and rock you back to sleep until my arms ached. I thought I knew, until I changed one thousand nappies and did five thousand laps of the park in biting wind and drizzle and sunshine. I thought I knew, until I spent one, two, three hours, craning over your cot on tiptoes and patting, patting, patting, shushing, shushing, shushing until you finally drifted off to sleep.

I thought I knew what love was, until I’d felt the incandescent, bubbling rage when you caught another nursery bug and I had to miss another day at work. Until I’d had to wrestle you, screaming, from the floor in the middle of a hot, crowded shopping centre filled with staring eyes. Until the rug got crusted with porridge and a crushed up mush of Rice Krispies and snot, and my bag was always full of crumbs and my playlists were all made up of Frozen songs and white noise. At yet my heart was still full and bursting with that big, scary love.

I thought I knew, until you flung your chubby arms round my neck and whispered, ‘I love you’ back for the first time.

I thought me and your dad’s love couldn’t get any stronger, until it multiplied by one million, despite us both being ten times more knackered, more frustrated and busier than before.

I didn’t know there was more love than I could have imagined – vast, terrifying oceans of it. I thought I knew what love was.

Baked tomato and mozzarella gnocchi

A super easy, affordable one-pot dinner made with everyday ingredients. Where do I sign up?

Serves 3
2 banana shallots, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tin good-quality plum tomaotes (I like Mutti)
A knob of butter
1 tsp sherry vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 ball buffalo mozzarella
400g potato gnocchi
A handful of fresh basil, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180C fan.

In a large, ovenproof casserole, heat a splash of olive oil over a medium heat. Add the shallots and sauté for 5 minutes, until soft, then add the garlic and cook for a further 1-2 minutes, stirring, until fragrant.

Add the tinned tomatoes, sherry vinegar, sugar, 1/2 tsp salt and the water from the mozzarella. Re-fill the tomato tin halfway with water and add this too.

Simmer for 15 minutes, until the sauce has reduced slightly. Stir in the gnocchi – it should just be covered by the sauce. Tear over the mozzarella.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the gnocchi is cooked through and the cheese has melted. Serve with fresh basil on top.