Shell Pasta with Samphire, Spinach & Sausages

Pasta dishes don't have to swim in sauce. Don't get me wrong I love penne completely coated in a freshly made tomato and basil sauce, spaghetti drowning in bolognaise and macaroni rich with cheese sauce, but sometimes it's nice to keep the pasta quite plain and let the other ingredients sing.

In this dish, the pasta shells are coated in a little pesto and tossed with spinach, samphire and well cooked sausages.

Sausages must be well cooked. Always! Slightly charred is slightly preferable.

The sausages have to be veggie or course (or vegan). I used Quorn™ Meat Free Sausages, which I keep in the freezer. They're a great standby for quick meals. I serve them on finger rolls with fried onions and ketchup, in rich sausage bakes, on mash with gravy and peas or on a sandwich or wrap with salad for lunch.

A Healthy Family Meal

Quorn™ Meat Free Sausages -  low in fat making them a *healthy source of protein.

Samphire - is rich in Vitamin A, B & C as well as folic acid.

Spinach - We all know that spinach is good for us, although it doesn't have as much iron as Popeye tried to convince us, but it is an excellent source or iron, vitamin A, B2, C, K, folic acid and magnesium. 

I used jarred pesto (you could make your own) and topped the pasta with some finely grated cheddar, which works better than veggie parmesan in this dish.

To make sure Graham's meal was dairy free and vegan I cooked him some vegan sausages, used dairy free pesto and topped his pasta with grated vegan cheddar. I only had to cook the sausages separately and grate the cheese on before serving it so it was no extra work really.

also try Sticky Marmalade Sausage Bake (vegan)

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Shell Pasta with Samphire, Spinach & Sausages

Written by Jacqueline Meldrum

September 28, 2016

Shell pasta coated in pesto and tossed with samphire, spinach and Quorn Meat Free Sausages, then topped with grated cheddar.

Ingredients

• 400g shell pasta
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 8 Quorn Meat Free Sausages
• 100g baby spinach
• 90g samphire
• 4 tbsp pesto
• a good grinding of black pepper
• 50g cheddar

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta in lots of boiling water until al dente.2. Fry the sausages in a little oil until brown and cooked through, then slice.3. While the pasta and sausages are cooking, rinse the spinach and samphire and chop, then add them to the cooking pasta a couple of minutes before the end of cooking.4. Drain the pasta and veg, then pop back in the pan with the pesto. Grind in some black pepper, then stir well. 5. Mix in the sausages and serve immediately topped with some grated cheddar.6. Enjoy

Details

Total time: 15 mins
Yield: Makes 4 generous portions

Crispy Battered Quorn Sausage Bites & Quick Quorn Lasagne Bites

Check out the Quorn website for more recipes and to see their latest products including their vegan range and follow the discussing using #QUORNivore.

* Quorn Meat Free Low Fat Sausages are a nutritionally healthy source of protein, protein contributes to the growth in and maintenance of muscle mass



Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for Quorn. I was not expected to write a positive review and any opinions expressed are my own.