Recipe of the week: Root veg and goat’s cheese shells

Root Veg and Goat’s Cheese Shells

This week JOE has gone for a dish that many would consider slightly 'outside the box'. This is high in nutrition and a novel dish for those that want to expand their culinary horizons.

This dish may immediately throw up some pressing questions. What is root veg? I have never used goat’s cheese before, will I survive this test? What are cheese shells?

Don’t worry, JOE is here for you, to answer those questions and help you silence that rumbling stomach.

Everyone will love this filling autumnal pasta dish. Conchiglie pasta is a great choice as the small chunks of root veg get scooped up in the shells, but you could also use other shapes such as rigatoni or fusilli.

The Basics:

Serves 2

10 ProPoints per serving

20 ProPoints values per recipe

35 minutes in total

Vegetarian

What you need:

• Calorie controlled cooking spray
• 200g(7oz) butternut squash, de-seeded, peeled and cut into 1 cm(1/2 inch) cubes
• 1 parsnip, peeled and diced
• 150g (5 ½ oz) swede, peeled and cut into 1 cm (1/2 inch) cubes
• ½ red onion, chopped
• 1 fresh rosemary sprig, leaves removed and chopped
• 1 tablespoon pine nut kernels
• 125g (4 ½ oz) dried conchigile pasta shells
• 50g (1 ¾ oz) baby spinach
• Zest of ½ a lemon
• 50g (1 ¾ oz) soft goat’s cheese, crumbled
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

What to do:

1. Spray a large lidded non stick saucepan with the cooking spray and cook the butternut squash, parsnip, swede, onion and rosemary for 15 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally until tender. Increase the heat, add the pine nut kernels and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes until starting to brown.
2. Meanwhile, bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, add the pasta and cook according to packet instructions until al dente. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of the cooking liquid, and return the pasta to the pan.
3. Stir the spinach, lemon zest, goat’s cheese, reserved cooking water and root vegetables into the pasta pan and stir to coat. Season generously and serve immediately. Three easy steps and there you go, a work of art is placed before you. Or so we hope. 

Suggestions:

The meal tastes equally good cold, making it perfect as a light lunch for four, for 5 ProPoints values per serving. If you wish, you could also serve it with a 35g(1 ¼ oz) medium slice of bread for an extra 2 ProPoints values per serving.

For more delicious Weight Watchers meals, simply click here