This looks like lots of stages, but it’s very easy…
The first stage depends on whether you’re cooking for meateaters or vegetarians or both. If you’re cooking for vegetarians, skip to stage 2! If you’re solely cooking for meateaters, start by splashing some olive/rapeseed oil into your frying pan, let it heat through slowly and chop your bacon into 1cm cubes. Fry the bacon in the pan until it’s crispy. Remove and set aside. (If you’re cooking for a combination, do the bacon in a separate pan at the same time as step 2.)
If you’re cooking for vegetarians, the first stage will be softening your shallots. Add your oil, shallots and a sprinkle of salt, but don’t be too generous with the salt as the later ingredients are quite salty. Finely chop the shallots and cook slowly on a low heat, for 5-7 minutes or until translucent.
Finely chop your garlic and add it to the pan. Rustic chopping is fine – we are in a most likely to be in a field, after all!
After a minute or two, when the garlic is fragrant, add some fresh thyme leaves and cook for a few seconds.
Chop your tomatoes as the garlic is cooking and add them to the pan. They can be fairly chunky, as they’re going to cook down as you move through the recipe.
As the tomatoes are cooking, chop your courgette into 2-3cm chunks and fry it off so it’s slightly golden. You’ll want to turn the heat up to medium for this stage. It will soften as you continue to cook, so if it’s any smaller it will start to disintegrate and you’ll lose the fresh courgette flavour in the finished dish.
Once you’ve got your golden courgette (don’t cook for any longer than 5 minutes!) add your gnocchi. Make sure you stir well but also allow the gnocchi to brown and crisp slightly. This will add some fun texture to the gnocchi for later.
If you’ve cooked bacon, add half of your cooked bacon to the pan and stir in with the gnocchi. If you haven’t – ignore this step…
When your gnocchi is starting to turn golden (after 3-5 minutes), add your stock cube and enough water to cover the ingredients in the pan by about 2/3s. Bring to the boil quickly before bringing to a simmer and then turn right down.
Add your spinach. Stir well, so the spinach wilts in the pan. It will look like you’re adding way too much spinach to start, but wait until it’s wilted and then you’ll have the perfect balance.
Grate in your parmesan. Mix well as you’re grating it in and you will see the parmesan melt and the sauce start to thicken.
Rip the mozzarella into small balls and push into the gnocchi mix. Try to spread it out around the pan.
Simmer on a low heat for a few minutes, as the mozzarella melts and does its gooey mozzarella thing in the pan. Check for seasoning and add more salt if it requires.
Finish by sprinkling some chilli flakes, black pepper and fresh thyme on top.
Serve, and enjoy! If you’re cooking for a group, add a fresh green salad and some French baguette to keep it simple but tasty.