Baked Ratatouille Gnocchi

I wanted ratatouille but felt it would be a little boring by itself. i remembered a baked gnocchi dish i had at restaurant and thought that i could do a similar thing with home cooked ratatouille and store bought gnocchi (i was being lazy).

Ingredients:

1/2 a medium eggplant diced
1/2 a medium zucchini diced
1/2 a green capsicum diced
2 tomatoes diced
1 medium onion roughly chopped
10-15 green beans cut in half
1 clove of garlic sliced
10-15 kalamata olives
500g of longlife gnocchi
some fresh herbs (marjoram, oregano, basil)
2 fresh bay leaves
a couple of big slurps of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
parmesan or pecorino to top

Cooking method:

1. Place eggplants and zucchini in a collander with some salt for 30 minutes to draw out moisture. This assists in preventing so much oil being absorbed.
   
2. Saute onions and bay leaves in oil for a few minutes on a medium heat in a heavy saucepan.
3. Add garlic and fry for a minute or so.
4. Add eggplant and zucchini and saute for 4-5 minutes.
5. Add capsicum and tomato and saute for a further couple of minutes.
6. Add fresh herbs, salt and pepper and turn heat to low and simmer on low heat for 30-40mins.
7. Normally long life gnocchi needs to be cooked in boiling water for a few minutes. Instead i placed the gnocchi directly into a shallow oven pan and spooned the ratatouille directly over, top with pecorino. Cover with aluminum foil and place into an oven at 180-200 degrees centigrade for 20 minutes or so.

Serve with a salad.