Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy reccipe for crispy baked gnocchi puttanesca | Quick and easy
Puttanesca purists, look away now.This dish takes the classic elements of a puttanesca – that is, anchovies, capers, olives, tomatoes – and combines them into a rich sauce for gnocchi, which are then covered in mozzarella, breadcrumbs and parmesan, and flashed under the grill.It’s exactly what you want on a rainy night.In fact, my sauce-averse toddler thought it smelled so good that she stole half of my plate – a win all round.(Although her pretty decent suggestion was that next time I use it as a pizza sauce, rather than on pasta or gnocchi.
Noted.)I’ve non-canonically added in small cubes of aubergine, because they melt beautifully into the sauce while adding extra plant matter.To make this vegetarian, omit the anchovies, add an extra spoon of capers and use a vegetarian parmesan.Prep 15 min Cook 30 min Serves 2 adults and 2 small children2 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped1 medium aubergine, trimmed and cut into 1cm dice½ tsp flaky sea salt 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely grated2 tsp small capers in brine, drained1 tsp anchovies in oil (about five small fillets)75g black olives, drained400g tinned chopped tomatoes500g fresh chilled or vacuum-packed gnocchi150g ball mozzarella, roughly torn40g white or panko breadcrumbs40g parmesanHeat the oil in a large, ovenproof frying pan or casserole, then add the onion and stir-fry on a medium to high heat for five minutes, until just starting to soften.Add the aubergine and salt, and cook, stirring frequently, for a further 10 minutes, until the aubergine has started to soften and brown.
Add the garlic, capers, anchovies and olives, and stir-fry for 30 seconds, mashing the anchovies well,Add the tinned tomatoes, bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes,(Note: it helps to use a good brand of tinned tomatoes here – Mutti’s are fantastic,Other brands may take a little longer to thicken sufficiently,)Just before the sauce is ready, bring a large pan of water to a boil, then drop in the gnocchi and cook according to the packet instructions (usually on a rolling boil for two to three minutes).
Drain well, then stir the gnocchi through the sauce.Heat the grill to medium-high.Scatter the mozzarella all over the gnocchi.Mix the breadcrumbs and parmesan in a bowl, then scatter this over the mozzarella.Grill for three to five minutes, until the cheese has melted and the breadcrumbs and parmesan are well-browned, then serve hot.
Brazilian butt lifts should be banned in UK amid ‘wild west’ industry, MPs say
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Illegal skin lightening products are being sold in an increasingly wide range of UK outlets, including butchers, specialist food shops and small grocery stores, trading standards officers have warned.The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) is warning that many of the products contain substances that are banned because of the serious risks they pose to health, including skin damage, infections and pregnancy complications.Officers say that, as well as online, they are finding them more frequently in Asian and Arab stores, plus specialist butchers and grocery stores for other diverse communities, whom the products are primarily targeted at.Tendy Lindsay, former chair of the CTSI, said: “As a Black woman and a longstanding advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion, I want to be absolutely clear: the sale of illegal skin lightening products is not only dangerous, it is unlawful.“Many of these products contain banned substances such as high levels of hydroquinone, mercury or potent corticosteroids
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On any given day, Poppy Blackman is engaged in the “soul-crushing” process of applying for a new job, and rarely ever hearing anything back.The 22-year-old has been unemployed since January 2025 and says she applies to an average of 50 roles a month, using one of four different CVs she has written for different types of jobs and sectors.“I can’t be picky with what I want to apply for,” says Blackman, who lives in London. She studied fashion and art design at North Kent College but has given up on only applying within this sector.“Not a day goes by when I don’t apply for at least a few jobs,” she says
Fostering target brings hope for thousands of children | Letter
Re your editorial (The Guardian view on fostering: reform is welcome, but excess profits must be tackled, 10 February), I’ll never forget the midnight feast that nobody ate. Four children sat shellshocked in my lounge, having just been removed from their home. They didn’t know or trust us. We tried our best to make them feel comfortable with cookies, doughnuts and crisps, but it would take several days before they were ready to tuck into treats.Fostering has been one of the biggest privileges for my wife and me over the past 20 years
Developers will only bring us more car-dependent sprawl | Letters
It is disappointing to see the huge urban sprawl at Gilston, north of Harlow, described as rejecting “car‑centric models” (A new town for the 21st century?, 9 February).Big, ultra-low-density developments like this, far from rail-transit networks, are inevitably car-dependent, despite claims by their promoters. It takes more than building the primary schools necessitated by such schemes to get people out of their cars, especially as walks to school are extended by the very low densities secured by huge consumption of productive farmland.Nor should the developers be given credit for “mixed tenure” housing. They managed to get East Herts council’s aspirations for 40% “affordable” housing reduced to 23%, using cynical “viability” provisions in planning guidance that enable developers to demand high rates of return and so reduce their obligations to provide affordable housing
Health support needed to tackle joblessness | Letter
The alarming rise in economic inactivity highlighted in your report (UK sleepwalking into joblessness epidemic, Tesco boss warns, 10 February) underlines a public health issue as much as an economic one. It is increasingly clear that millions of working-age people are drifting out of the labour market not through choice but because of long-term health problems and inadequate support systems around them.Tackling worklessness requires proactive, health-centred approaches that help individuals stay in or return to work. We also know that time out of work is corrosive. Good-quality work improves physical and mental wellbeing, providing income, social connection and purpose, and protects against social exclusion
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