The Pasta Bake

For you guys in the northern hemisphere, weather’s getting hotter; but for us in the southern hemisphere, weather’s getting colder. This is a nice cold day dish.

Potato Gnocchi with Blue Cheese & Spinach Gratin

Ingredients:
For the potato gnocchi:
1 kg. potatoes.
500 gr. self raising flour.
1 egg.
1 pinch nutmeg.
1 splash olive oil.
Salt and freshly ground pepper.
For the gratin:
2 bunches fresh spinach.
200 gr. blue cheese.
1/2 cup cream.
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese.
1/3 cup walnuts.

Method:
For the potato gnocchi:
1. Boil the potatoes until tender. Let them cool slightly, then peel and mash. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg.
2. While the purée is warm, add the egg and the splash of olive oil, and start adding the flour, little by little until you get soft dough. If you make the dough hard, the gnocchi will turn harder to the bite. Roll the dough into long sausages and using a knife cut it into 2.5 cm. long gnocchi. If you want to add them the stripped shape, use a fork to do so, I like them plain.

For the gratin:
1. Boil the gnocchi in enough salted water until "al dente". At the same time, place a steamer on top and steam the spinach until welted and cooked through.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan at medium-low heat, mix the blue cheese and the cream until the blue cheese has completely dissolved.
3. Add the gnocchi into a nice oven-proof serving platter (you're going to take this dish directly to the table), add the spinach and blue cheese cream and mix a little to coat. Add the walnuts on top and finally the grated Parmesan cheese.
4. Using the broiler of the oven at medium-high, broil the dish until the cheese has melted and has a golden color.
Serve right away.

Greets! The Fat Guy.