John Torode's spicy lamb pasta bake
Looking for the perfect midweek meal? John Torode's pasta bake might be just the ticket.
This spicy pasta bake is filled with ricotta pasta shells, peas and spicy lamb. It can be prepped ahead of time and the best bit is, there’s hardly any washing up afterwards!
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
500g minced lamb
1 tsp paprika
400g can chopped tomatoes
200ml water with a stock cube
20 large pasta shells
100g frozen peas
1 lemon, zest and juice
100g frozen spinach, defrosted and excess moisture squeezed out
100g ricotta
1 egg
100ml yoghurt
100g parmesan, grated
To serve
1 Iceberg lettuce, cut into wedges
For the Dijon mustard dressing:
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
Method
1. Gently cook the onion with the oil in a pan until softened.
2. Add the garlic and lamb and cook until the meat has browned. Add the paprika and season well.
3. Add the tomatoes, water and stock and cook for ten minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cook the pasta shells for a few minutes, until al dente.
5. Drain the pasta when cooked, mix with a little oil and leave to one side to cool a little.
6. Mix together the peas, lemon zest and juice, spinach, ricotta, egg, yoghurt and half the parmesan.
7. Preheat the oven to 180C. Spoon the meat sauce into a large ovenproof dish. Take the spinach mix and fill each of the pasta shells with the filling. Push each shell into the meaty sauce so they are almost covered.
8. Once all the shells are filled, place the rest of the spinach mix (if any) around the sides of the dish and sprinkle over the remaining parmesan. This can now sit in the fridge if you want to eat it later, or cook straight away in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the topping is golden brown.
9. Serve with a big bowl of Iceberg salad with Dijon mustard dressing.