An aeiral view of a white bowl of cooked gnocchi, spinach and dolcelate sauce mixed up together with a portion removed, sitting on a folded blue napkin

Gnocchi with Spinach, Pine Nuts and Dolcelatte

3 minutes

Serves 4

Vegetarian

This recipe is from Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking.

If speed is of the essence, I cannot think of a quicker way to feed four veggies more handsomely.

Vegetarians might like to know that a vegetarian parmesan-style cheese is available from Bookham and Harrison Farms Ltd

NOTE: This recipe is from the book Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking, which was published in 2008; therefore you may have difficulty finding the exact named shop ingredients that were available then. We have kept these recipes on the site, as we know many people have successfully adapted them to what is currently available.

The Delia Online Cookery School: Watch how to make baked pasta recipes in our video. Just press the recipe image to play.

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Method

First of all, put the kettle on, then pre-heat the grill and put a lightly oiled, 19cm (or similar) round or square baking dish underneath it to heat through.

Then cook the spinach – in the bags in the microwave or else by tossing it in a large saucepan with a few drops of oil till wilted. Either way, tip it into a colander afterwards to drain. Now fill a large saucepan with boiling water, add salt and cook the gnocchi for 2 minutes or until they start to float to the top. While they’re cooking, gently heat the cheese sauce in a small pan and squeeze any excess moisture from the spinach (hands are best). Then arrange the spinach all over the base of the heated baking dish.

When the gnocchi are ready, drain them in a colander and arrange them on top of the spinach. Next, scatter the cubes of cheese in, along with the toasted pine nuts. Follow this with the hot cheese sauce, spreading it evenly all over, and grate half of the whole nutmeg over that. Finally, sprinkle over the breadcrumbs and the Parmesan, then whack it under the grill – 10cm from the heat – for 3 minutes or until golden-brown and bubbling.