Gnocchi Bake

I used ready-made gnocchi here because I wanted a quick dinner after we’d been faffing around in the garden planting seeds (carrot, beetroot and courgette, since you ask). Yes, I know gnocchi is easy to make and I’m being very lazy, but I won’t tell anyone if you won’t!

This is pure comfort food; easy, quick and incredibly tasty. Serve with a tomato and red onion salad dressed with some olive oil and a splash of balsamic; add a mindless telly programme and a glass of something cold (that'll be water for me...the wine is for Mr Simply Veg) put your feet up on the sofa and enjoy.

250g gnocchi (½ a pack)

1 head of broccoli (about 350g)
350ml milk
25g butter
30g plain flour
1 tsp Marigold Bouillon stock powder
100g cheddar cheese, grated

Break the broccoli into florets. Bring a large pan of water to the boil; add the gnocchi to the boiling water, when they start to bob to the surface add the broccoli and cook for 1 minute exactly. Drain well and plunge into a bowl of cold water to halt the cooking process; drain again and put to one side while you make the cheese sauce.

Put the milk, butter, flour and Marigold stock powder into a saucepan over a medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens; simmer for 5 minutes. Take off the heat and stir in half the cheddar. Stir the gnocchi and broccoli carefully into the cheese sauce.

Tip into an ovenproof dish and top with the rest of the grated cheddar. Bake at 200C for 15 minutes until bubbling and golden.