LOW-COST Cooking

Times are hard, but your diet shouldn't suffer because grocery costs are high! Home cook and TikTok sensation, Mitch Lane, has crafted nutritious meals on a budget in his new book Feed Your Family for Under a Fiver

TOMATO AND BASIL GNOCCHI

‘This is a fantastic example of how to turn some extremely cheap and humble ingredients into something quite elegant – an almost restaurant-quality dish. You can buy prepacked gnocchi, but you can save money by making your own from scratch.’

Serves: 4

Ingredients: 

• 1kg potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• ½ onion, finely chopped

• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• ½ red chilli, finely chopped (deseed for a milder flavour)

• 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes

• 10 basil leaves, torn, plus extra to serve

• 300g plain flour

• 20g Parmesan

• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Put the potatoes in a pan, cover them with salted water and gradually bring them to the boil. Let them simmer until completely soft.

2. Put another pot on a medium heat and add the oil and the onion. Let the onion soften for 3–4 minutes. Add the garlic and chilli and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Keep everything moving around the pan to prevent it burning and sticking.

3. Add the tomatoes and then half fill one can with water and pour that in too. Add the basil leaves and salt and pepper, give the sauce a stir, lower the heat to low and let it bubble away for 30 minutes. Check on it every 5 minutes and stir to ensure that nothing sticks.

4. The potatoes should be nice and soft now, so drain them and mash them as well as you can. Try to ensure that there are no big lumps. Season with salt to taste.