Gnocchi with smoky eggplant and kale sauce
14 November 2017
Ingredients
- eggplant, 1 (large)
- olive oil, 1 tbsp
- brown onion, 1
- garlic, 2 tsp (minced)
- olives, 50 g (optional; I prefer a milder green olive)
- basil, handful (chopped roughly)
- diced tomatoes, 2 cans
- kale, 1/2 bunch
- sundried tomato pesto, 1 jar (optional)
- gnocchi, 1 kg
- parmesan, to taste (shredded; optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Char eggplant over an open flame or hot grill until the whole skin is going black and shrivelled (this gives a smoky taste, but isn't essential), then transfer to a tray lined with a baking sheet and bake for 30–40 minutes.
- Meanwhile, dice onion finely, strip kale from stems and tear into pieces, and chop olives (if using) into fairly small pieces. Wait until eggplant is ready then leave to cool.
- Sauté onion and garlic until onion is browning, then add tomatoes, olives (if using) and basil, and season to taste. Swill a little water in the tomato tins and add to pan. Simmer.
- Remove skin from eggplant, roughly chop flesh, and add to sauce. Continue to simmer for 10 minutes or longer to infuse eggplant flavour. If you're short on time, skip this.
- Add kale and sundried tomato pesto (if using) to sauce and cook for another 5 minutes until kale is wilted. At the same time, add gnocchi to a pot of boiling water and cook for 3–4 minutes until floating, then drain.
- Serve gnocchi topped with sauce and a whole lot of parmesan, and enjoy!