When the weather is cold, Sarah Pound gravitates towards warming and comforting meals like pasta bake.
With a focus on simple, accessible, family friendly cooking, Sarah says pasta is a “go-to” pantry staple in her household.
Her winter cooking essentials include pasta varieties from dried gnocchi to penne, stock, tinned beans and tinned tomatoes.
This gnocchi bake is a version of a dish her mum makes with rigatoni.
“I love gnocchi,” Sarah says, “especially in a cheesy one-pot kind of dinner like this.”
She says there’s nothing worse than a dry meatball, but her mum’s recipe comes with “a few little secrets” to avoid this.
Adding milk to the breadcrumbs creates moisture and including grated cheese in the mixture adds an unexpected creaminess, she says.
“This would be something I’d love to make on a Sunday and have it bubbling away while you’re doing odd jobs around the house.”
Tips:The vegetables (zucchini, capsicum and mushrooms) can be added and subtracted in this recipe to suit your palate or your fridge contents.You could increase the veggie content by adding baby spinach or chopped kale to the sauce before adding the meatballs, including thinly diced eggplant along with the zucchini, capsicum and mushrooms, or by adding about a cup of halved cherry tomatoes along with the tinned.This recipe is easy to make ahead and reheat to serve.If you’re looking to save on time, you can buy meatballs or good quality sausage instead. If using sausages simply pierce the casing and squirt the meat into rough blobs.While “the flavour is not going to be as good”, Sarah says you can skip the oven and cook it completely on the stovetop. “Put your meatballs in, put your cheese on, put the lid on and then serve.”The meatballs and sauce can also be served with spaghetti for a quicker midweek meal.The meatballs can also be prepared and cooked separately and served in bread, wraps or pitta with “fresh bits and bobs”. This is a particularly helpful meal when kids are going through a picky stage, Sarah says.Posted Sat 27 Jun 2026 at 12:00pmSat 27 Jun 2026 at 12:00pm
Sat 27 Jun 2026 at 12:00pm