An ideal freeze ahead pasta bake. Large pasta shells are ideal for stuffing. The best olives don’t come pitted, so stone them yourself or just tell your guests to watch out!
Ingredients
- 250g pack large pasta shells (from Tesco and Sainsbury’s)
- ½ x 350g jar roasted peppers in oil
- ½ x 350g jar antipasti artichokes in oil
- 100g small black olives, pitted and chopped
- 200g feta, crumbled
- 500g cherry tomatoes
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp light muscovado sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Method
- 1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6. Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling water for 10 minutes, then drain well.
- 2. Drain the peppers. Chop the peppers roughly or very finely depending on how you prefer the texture of the filling. Drain and chop the artichokes, then mix together with the peppers, olives, feta and plenty of black pepper in a bowl. Stuff the cooked pasta shells with the filling using a teaspoon. Put the stuffed pasta in a tightly sealed plastic container and freeze for up to 2 months.
- 3. When you want to eat the dish, defrost the pasta shells. Tip the tomatoes into a large ovenproof dish. Mix together the balsamic vinegar, sugar and 2 tbsp water, then drizzle over the tomatoes. Sit the pasta shells, with the stuffing facing up, in between the tomatoes in the dish.
- 4. Spoon over the oil, cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes, until the tomatoes have split and the pasta is golden.
Nutritional info
Per serving: 565kcals, 29.6g fat (8.5g saturated), 17.7g protein, 60.2g carbs, 11g sugar, 1.9g salt
Chef's tip
Slightly undercook the pasta – it will finish cooking in the oven.
Baking the pasta dishes before freezing prevents the pasta sticking together.
You can reheat these in the microwave. Defrost, cover with cling film and cook for 4-5 minutes or until piping hot.