Saucy lentil gnocchi ragù
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 10 to 30 mins
- Serve
- Serves 4
An extremely saucy and comforting ragù-style dish that skips the meat but does not skimp on flavour. Made in one pot, it really couldn’t be easier!
Each serving provides 530 kcal, 17.8g protein, 94.7g carbohydrate (of which 15.1g sugars), 5.7g fat (of which 0.9g saturates), 14.6g fibre and 2.81g salt.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp dried red chilli flakes (optional)
- 5 garlic cloves, blended or finely chopped
- 1 onion, blended or finely chopped
- 2 celery sticks, blended or finely chopped
- 250g/8oz chestnut mushrooms, blended or finely chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and blended or finely chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 400g tin green lentils, drained
- 1 tsp sugar (any white sugar)
- 2 x 400g packets fresh gnocchi
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- fresh basil leaves, sliced, to garnish
- vegetarian hard cheese or dairy-free alternative, finely grated, to serve (optional)
Method
Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Stir in the paprika, oregano and chilli flakes and fry for 1 minute to infuse the spices.
Add the garlic, onion and celery and cook for a few minutes until softened. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes to draw out their moisture. Add the carrots and cook for a further 2 minutes.
Mix in the tomato purée and soy sauce.
Pour in the tomatoes. Refill the empty tomato tin with boiling water and the stock cube, stir until dissolved and then pour the stock into the pan. Add the lentils and sugar and mix everything together.
Simmer for around 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until it begins to thicken but still remains saucy. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Add the gnocchi directly into the sauce, stir through and cook for a few minutes until soft and ready to eat.
Serve in bowls and garnish with a handful of the basil. Serve with a good sprinkling of the cheese, if using.
Recipe tips
Blending the vegetables in a food processor not only saves a lot of time but it adds to the saucy texture. However, if you do not have a food processor, chopping everything finely will work just as well.
Gnocchi comes in a variety of pack sizes, but 500g is the most common (however, you do see 400g packs in some supermarkets). As this recipe is very forgiving adding a little extra to the sauce will be fine.
Don’t faff with pre-cooking the gnocchi – this is a great one-pot recipe where the gnocchi cooks in the sauce.
Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container. It may need a splash of water to loosen the sauce when reheating.
The ragù sauce (without the gnocchi) can be batch cooked and frozen for up to 3 months. Simply defrost, reheat in a saucepan and add the fresh gnocchi.
