Gnocchi with chard

I admit it: from time to time, I do what Delia Smith recommends, and use pre-prepared ingredients. One of these days, I shall make my own gnocchi; meanwhile, I'll carry on using packet varieties. They are quite doughy, almost rubbery, but satisfying in their way.

How To Cheat at Cooking has a gnocchi recipe with spinach and cheese sauce. I used chard, cooking it like this; and I made my own cheese sauce, following the recipe in this eggs Florentine entry. (Inspired by Delia, my recipe is pre-prepared.)

I cooked the bagful of chard that came in my vegetable box, mixed the leaves and the stalks, and put them in a gratin dish. Then I made the bechamel, while heating a saucepan of water for the gnocchi (a 250g packet). I stirred the cheese with a grating of nutmeg and some pepper into the bechamel, and turned off the heat. I tipped the gnocchi into the boiling water (which included the water in which the chard had cooked), and waited for a few minutes, until they rose to the surface. I drained them.

I tipped the gnocchi on to the chard in the gratin dish, poured the cheese sauce on top, and put the dish into a gas mark 6/200C oven for 10 minutes, until the sauce was bubbling. I finished the dish by flashing it under a hot grill.

This was a generous quantity for two.