Cheesy Roman Gnocchi
Golden, crispy-edged discs of cheesy polenta. No potatoes, no rolling, no fuss, no meat, and nobody will miss any of it.
Let's get one thing straight: these are not the gnocchi you're thinking of. There's no boiling, no ricing potatoes, no rolling little pillows off a fork while your kitchen turns into a flour storm. Roman gnocchi are made from semolina (in this case, polenta) cooked in milk, enriched with butter and far too much cheese (correct amount), left overnight to set, cut into rounds and baked until the tops are blistered and golden.
It's the meatless dinner that doesn't feel like a compromise. Thermomix does the stirring, the fridge does the setting, and the oven does the rest. Make the base the day before and it's a 25-minute weeknight dinner. Serve with a sharp green salad and call it done, or put it next to a roast if you must. It's honestly better on its own.
A word of caution; You cannot use ordinary supermarket block cheddar for these. The taste will be disappointing to say the least. You must use your best cheddar...ever. I use a tres expensive English mature cheddar for these, that since the unfortunate closure of European Foods Cheese Cathedral, I have to order in at another Italian grocer...but I digress. Use the best you can find. Or dial up the parmesan...it's all about flavour.
Enjoy.
Need
- 1 Batch Polenta Gnocchi just to the dough stage Recipe
- 200 Grams mature cheddar cheese
- butter as needed BUY
- 1 Tin Mutti cherry tomatoes
- Pinches pink salt flakes or to taste BUY
- 2 Teaspoons Dry Italian Seasoning Recipe
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) to finish BUY
Do
- 1
Make the polenta gnocchi up to the cooking stage, complete step 8.
- 2
Roll the dough into two big pieces roughly the same size. Wrap them in the well floured silpat mat and refrigerate or freeze until you are ready to bake. They will need at least 8 hours in the fridge for easier handling.
- 3
If you froze the gnocchi, allow them to thaw until you can cut them easily. This may take a while.
- 4
Preheat the oven to 200°C and butter a baking dish. Cut the gnocchi dough into 2 cm thick rounds and arrange them in the dish, overlapping slightly.
- 5
Place the cheese into the mixing bowl and mill 10 sec/speed 8.
- 6
Sprinkle the cheese over the top of the gnocchi and bake for 20 minutes.
- 7
In the meantime, place the tomatoes, salt flakes and Italian seasoning into the mixing bowl and heat 8 min/80°C/open cook. If you are not using the TM7, cook 8 min/reverse/gentle.
- 8
When the gnocchi is golden and tender, serve immediately drizzled with the tomato sauce and a good drizzle of EVOO as well.
- 9
A side salad will make this a complete meal, or serve it as a side dish.
Served with
Tenina Holder is a wife, mother of five and grandmother of nine, who started cooking in the olden days before Thermomix was even a thing.
Tenina has become the premium go to source for all Thermomix expertise and of course fresh and easy recipes that work. Her cooking classes and foodie trips are sold out in literally hours, her cookbooks appear on the Australian best seller lists and her social reach is in the millions. Her Insider Club is the most fun you can have with a Thermomix and you really should join her! She believes chocolate, butter and salt are health foods. Her food positivity mantra is, eat everything, just not all at once!
