Meaty conchiglie pasta bake | Recipe (Slimming World friendly)

Pasta is a firm favourite in our household and we tend to eat it at least once a week – even better that it’s ‘free’ on Slimming World so I can eat as much as I like! (The dried version anyway). A couple of months ago I received some vouchers from Tesco to purchase some of their ‘finest’ pasta and I bought some large conchiglie pasta shells. I was going to stuff and then bake them but in the end I just went for this fuss free pasta bake. Totally delicious and very low syn on Slimming World!*

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

500g lean minced beef
1 red pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
150g mushrooms, sliced
1tsp Italian herbs
2 x 500g cartons passata
1 x tin of macaroni cheese
1/2 tub of Quark
500g large pasta shells (you could use small ones if you can’t find large ones)
120g cheddar cheese, grated

Method

Preheat oven to gas 4/180C/350F.
Parboil the pasta shells until just starting to go soft.
Over a low-medium heat, fry the mince, pepper, onion, garlic, and mushrooms until the mince is cooked and the vegetables are beginning to soften. Add the Italian herbs and mix in the passata.
Cover the bottom of a large baking dish with the parboiled pasta, then top with the meat & passata mixture.
Using a hand blender, blitz up the tin of macaroni cheese and mix with the quark. Spread this on top of the pasta and meat mixture.
Finally, sprinkle the grated cheese on top and cook for 40-45 minutes until the pasta is tender and the cheese is golden and bubbling.
Enjoy with garlic bread or some filling veggies, or both!