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I struggled with this one a little as 250g of gnocchi is more pasta than you would have per person, but really half a packet doesn’t look like much on the plate, so this one is kind of going to be up to individual preference. If you have particularly hungry people you might want to treat this as a side dish and serve with some grilled chicken, or salmon which would both work very well. Also lovely with a side salad and some roasted broccoli.

Cheat’s burrata
This is such a good hack. Delicious draped on top of salads, pasta or used as a base for the most amazing tomato and basil salad. It’s so versatile and I find myself making it most weeks at least. It can transform the simplest things into something really quite special. Plain tomato pasta is made suddenly sensational with this addition on the top, just you wait! You can also use double cream which feels naughty but afterall that is what stracciatella is made of.

Switch it up, by tearing the mozzarella into shreds or just roughly into quarters or you can neatly slice it. You can also add a squeeze of lemon, a little olive oil or a few fresh thyme leaves with it to marinate. All excellent.

Whipped ricotta
Simply mix 2 heaped tablespoons with the zest of 1/2 a lemon, 20g of parmesan, salt and pepper until all combined. V good on all sorts of dishes and works really well with pasta

Variations
You can also add aubergine

I love the combination of tomato and aubergine so often would add some cubes of aubergine to the pan. Just maybe add a bit more olive oil to the aubergine as they need it when they are roasting so they collapse and go all delicious as opposed to being a bit hard and dry. You know what I mean.

Red pepper / capsicum

This would be lovely with red peppers. Chop the raw ones and add thematic the start with the tomatoes. Or use the jarred roasted ones and cut into small pieces and add half way through to the pan just so they warm through and begin to soften. Delicious.

Pancetta

Crispy pancetta would be a lovely addition to this, I think I would just sprinkle cubes of pancetta on the top of the gnocchi after it’s been in the oven for 10 minutes and allow it to get nice and crispy as the gnocchi finishes cooking.

Add sausages

This would also be really lovely with sausages. I would just pop them onto the baking sheet next to the gnocchi when you start and allow them to all roast at the same time. Or slice them up into rounds and add them on top of the gnocchi and allow to get crispy.

If you want to make your own gnocchi…
If you want to make your own, then boil it as you usually would, but I would still try the roasted tomato sauce as it’s really so simple and very good. The same for store bought, you don’t have to roast the gnocchi if you love gnocchi for it’s traditional pillow like style - simply boil it and then toss it all together with the sauce at the end.

Don’t like gnocchi?
No problem, use any pasta you like and boil until it’s done to your likely and toss with the roasted tomato sauce.