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These vegetable mince stuffed conchiglioni pasta shells are bursting with finely diced veggies and oven baked in a fragrant and golden pepper and turmeric yellow sauce.

Ques ta ricetta è disponibile anche in italiano.

Pasta and veggies = the perfect marriage!

How about big chunky conchiglioni shells filled with little cubes of mixed veggies and topped with creamy and smooth pepper and turmeric sauce? = absolutely heavenly.

Well the other day I was craving for a pasta dish, with an explosion of flavours and I wanted it to be mostly about unprocessed foods as much as conveniently possible. I usually tend to avoid cooking with store bought processed products, as they are not as healthy as you might think I'm afraid. They, in fact, contain high percentages of salt, sugar, fat and preservatives, which are all elements that our body should really ingest/process in smaller amounts.

I don't know if you ever think about it, but the word "processed" may relate to a number of store bought goods and there's actually a classification which I'm about to show you very briefly about the different types of processed food that we can find in our supermarkets.

1) Low processed food. This is the bottom category that includes all those foods - typically vegetables - that have been washed and/or chopped for customers' convenience.

2) Medium low processed food. This category includes canned, jarred or frozen vegetables and fruits that have been harvested at their peak to lock in nutrients and freshness.

3) Medium high processed food. Not just plain vegetables or fruits, but jarred/canned products with added ingredients such as sugar, spices, salt, oils, colour and preservatives for both texture and flavour. These include milk substitutes, marinated tofu, pasta sauces, dressing sauces, yoghurts, cake mixes, but also soy mince, pre-made sandwiches, meat/fish substitutes.

4) Highly processed food. In this category fall all ready-to-eat food, such as snacks, crackers, cookies, granola and so on.

5) Heavily processed food. This is the group of store bought food that we should only consume during emergencies, such as lacking of time. Note that we can easily mass produce as little as once a week as much home cooked food (and for home cooked I mean from scratch) that we can store up to a few days in the fridge or for months in our freezers, ready to be heated in any kind of "emergency". In this category we find ready to eat meals, frozen or fresh, pizza, Indian sharing plates, pasta bakes and so on.

Back to the recipe, as announced I tried to keep processed goods to a minimum: 100% of my veggies are unprocessed (market bought, loose and carried in eco-friendly 100% recyclable bags), although there's the store bought pasta and the olive oil that fall between the first two categories, and the soy milk that is in the 3rd one. Overall it's not bad at all, is it?

Unfortunately nowadays it is pretty challenging cooking pure and unprocessed dishes daily. Such convenient packed food that we rely on are in everyone's cupboard even without realising it.

But a diet that includes foods that fall into the first 3 categories can still be considered pretty much unprocessed and cooked from scratch. It's the healthiest one can rely on, especially for those who cannot invest too much time making from scratch things like pasta, plant based milks and/or boiling legumes on a daily basis. Let's then say that it's a fair compromise that we can meet.

The concept of today's recipe is very simple: stuffed pasta with finely diced vegetables dressed in a soy based pepper and turmeric yellow sauce. Finally baked for extra crunchiness on top, yet still juicy and moist inside.

If you like pasta bakes also try these Smoked Tofu and Pistachio Roll-Ups!

How to make these Conchiglioni with Vegetable "Mince"

Ingredients (serves 4):
20 Conchiglioni
1 dozen Green Beans
2 Spring Onions (or 1 small onion)
2 Salad Tomatoes (or handful of cherry tomatoes)
½ Courgette (large, or 1 small)
1 Aubergine (small, or ½ large)
1 Yellow Pepper
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil (+ extra for coating)
30 g Vegan Cheese (or Nutritional Yeast, optional)
...for the pepper and turmeric sauce...
1 Yellow Pepper
400 g Soy Milk
30 g Corn Flour
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 ½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
Parsley (handful)
Basil (5-6 leaves)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Method:
1. Chop 1 of the yellow peppers and all veggies for the fillings into cubes of roughly the same size (for spring onions and green beans just chop segments of them).

2. Heat the oil in a pan, then add the cubed vegetables except for the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and sauté until soft and caramelized. Once cooked add the cubed tomatoes.

3. In the mean time roughly chop the remaining yellow pepper, place it into a blender cup, then add milk, corn flour, turmeric, garlic powder and salt. Blend until smooth.

4. Once the veggies are cooked, transfer into a bowl, top with finely chopped herbs and mix until well distributed.

5. Filter the yellow sauce through a sieve to remove bits of pepper skin, place it in the same pan you cooked the vegetables add the yellow pepper sauce, and heat it on medium-low heat until it thickens (stirring continuously for about 2 to 3 minutes).

6. Cook the pasta a couple of minutes less of the time indicated on the package (mine was supposed to cook for 15 and I drained after 13).

7. Drain the water of the pasta and place it in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil. Make sure to coat well the pasta with olive oil to prevent it sticking together.

8. Assembling time. On the bottom of your tray arrange a generous amount of yellow sauce.

9. Begin stuffing each conchiglione with 2-3 teaspoons of diced vegetables, then arrange the pasta on the sauce layer in the tray.

10. Use up every conchiglione making sure the filling is facing up, then cover with a generous amount vegan grated cheese.

11. Bake at 180° C (355°F) for 20 minutes and serve hot. If you prefer, you can turn on the grill mode in the last 2-3 minutes to add some extra crunch on the top.