Entertain at home: Baked chorizo gnocchi with a spicy Shiraz

Serves 4

You’ll need: 1 tbsp olive oil; 2 onions, finely sliced; 150g spicy chorizo, skin removed & diced; 4 cloves of garlic, minced; 1 small fresh chilli, finely diced; 2 tsp dried Italian herbs; 2 tbsp tomato paste; 1 x 400g tin diced tomatoes; ½ cup fresh cream; 500g potato gnocchi; ¼ cup fresh basil, roughly torn; 300g Fior di latte mozzarella; salt and pepper, to taste; olive oil; fresh basil, to garnish.

How to:

Preheat oven to 200ºC.

You can cook this dish in an ovenproof pan/ shallow casserole from the beginning or else transfer everything to an ovenproof dish at the end to bake.

Using a drizzle of olive oil, fry sliced onions and chorizo over medium heat until soft and golden brown. Add the minced garlic, chilli and dried herbs and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and cook it off for a few minutes until it turns a warm brick red colour and smells fragrant. Add the tinned tomatoes and reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes until the sauce has thickened slightly. Add the cream and season with salt and pepper. 

Remove from the heat. 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the gnocchi and cook according to package instructions. Gnocchi will be cooked once it starts floating on the surface. Do not overcook. 

Drain gnocchi and add it to the tomato sauce along with the fresh basil. Mix. 

Scatter over roughly torn pieces of the fresh mozzarella. 

Bake for 15–20 minutes or until bubbling and golden brown. 

Garnish with fresh basil and a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Serve with crusty bread, a fresh green salad and a glass of Fat bastard Shiraz. 

About the wine:

The wine is aged in small oak barrels, which adds greater weight and complexity to the finished product. This full-bodied wine shows freshly crushed black pepper aromas with hints of cinnamon and cloves on the nose with lots of brambly red berry fruit and well-integrated vanilla tones. Around R104 from Makro or available from all leading liquor outlets. 

Details:fatbastardwine.co.za