The Recipe below is one of the easiest home-made gnocchi recipes ever, you literally can make it from scratch in under 20 minutes.

If you really have time you could boil up about 1kg of potato and mash them into this mix for potato and ricotta gnocchi and that just really lifts this dish to the next level and gives the gnocchi a little more texture and making it a more traditional style Italian gnocchi.

Although if you are lazy like me sometimes store-bought gnocchi is fine too. Remember these recipes are guides for you to do what you want, simple dishes to make for your family and friends in the comfort of your own home with no dramas.

Essentially this is a Bolognese with lamb. Feel free to use veal, beef and even chicken can be a really good substitute. I’ve also had this with pork which is seriously yummy.

I remember my grandpa used to make his Bolognese with pork, beef and veal so you can do the old combo here as well.

I’ve gone for lamb as it’s what I had in the fridge at the time. A bold red wine like Barolo is great here but really any red will do, if you are like me you’ll want to cook with what your drinking and trust me Barolo here is the go to wine in my opinion.

Give this ago and even if it’s only two of you, you’ll have lunch and dinner for a week!

Ingredients

Serves 5-6 people

Time approx. 2hrs

For The Ricotta Gnocchi

450g whole milk ricotta cheese (drained of excess water)

3 egg yolks

1 cup (265g 00 flour)

3/4 cup (about 1 ounce) freshly-grated Parmesan

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper

Lamb Rague Bolognese

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 large carrots, finely chopped

1 large onion, finely chopped

100g thickly sliced pancetta, cut into 1/4-inch dice

600g lamb, coarsely minced

3/4 cup of Barolo red wine (or any red wine you wish)

1 x 450g Italian tomatoes, coarsely chopped, juices reserved

1 cup chicken stock

1 bay leaf

150g buffalo mozzarella torn

60g pecorino cheese

Extra virgin olive oil to serve

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Method

Bring a large stockpot of generously-salted water to a boil over high heat.

Add to a large bowl the egg yolks and ricotta and stir briefly to combine. Add in the flour, Parmesan, salt and pepper, and stir until evenly combined. Avoid over-mixing. The dough will be a bit moist and maybe a bit sticky, but it should hold together. If it feels too wet, just add in another few tablespoons of flour.

Shape the dough into a round disk with your hands, then transfer it to a lightly-floured cutting board and sprinkle the dough lightly with flour. Using a knife cut the dough into eight even wedges. Using your hands, gently roll out each wedge into an even log, approximately 3/4-inch wide. Cut each log into individual bite-sized little gnocchi squares. Lightly dust the gnocchi with flour once more and give them a quick toss so that they are all lightly coated with flour. (This will help prevent them from sticking together.)

Being careful in two batches transfer the gnocchi to boiling water. Cook usually for around 30 seconds or till they float. Drain the gnocchi and set aside to cool.

For the lamb ragu In a medium size pot, heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil until shimmering. Add the carrots and onion, cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and just beginning to brown, about 12 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in the same pot. Add the pancetta and stir once or twice over moderately high heat until sizzling. Add the lamb and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated and the meat is browned, 10 minutes. Return the vegetables. Add the red wine and simmer until evaporated, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.

Add the tomatoes and their juices, the chicken stock, bay leaf and Season with salt and black pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to moderately low, cover partially and simmer, stirring occasionally, cook for 45 minutes. Discard the bay leaf.

Set the oven to 180 degrees. Take 1kg of cold gnocchi and stir it through the ragu once evenly distributed and nice and saucy pour the gnocchi ragu into a baking dish big enough to fit all of the mixture in comfortably. Break over the buffalo mozzarella and grate over the pecorino generously.

Place in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately with sourdough bread and lashings of extra virgin olive oil.