Baked beef lumaconi

I can simply devour baked pasta, any day at any time. Lumaconi is my favourite pasta shape, simply because it is perfect for any filling you wish to put inside and tastes amazing when piping hot, from the oven with melted grated mozzarella or Parmesan!

For this recipe, I chose to stuff my lumaconi with a mixture of ground beef, pancetta dolce and a tomato and cream sauce for a hearty dinner dish! 

Ingredients (for 2 portions)

• 120g of lumaconi pasta shells
  
• 250g of ground beef
• 1/2 a red onion
• One packet of pancetta dolce
• 1 tbspn of oil (for heating)
• 2 tspn Italian Seasoning
• 1 tspn smoked paprika
• 1 tspn chilli flakes (optional)
• 1 tspn garlic powder
• 1 tspn onion salt
• 20g of grated Parmesan 
• seasoning to taste
• 1 tbspn of polpa (I use cherry tomato polpa)
• 1 packet of lactose free cream (or any alternative)

Method:

1. Start by boiling a pot of salted water in order to cook the pasta as specified on the box, roughly around 9 minutes
2. In a pan, heat up the oil and saute the red onion until translucent. At this stage, add the seasoning in order to release the aromas. 
3. Add the pancetta dolce and cook until the cubes start caramelizing at the edges. At this point add the ground beef and cook in the pan until it appears to be cooking through.
4. At this stage, add the polpa and the cream and simmer on low heat for around 10 minutes. 
5. Once the mixture is ready and the pasta shells are drained and cooled, fill the shells using a spoon with the ground beef mixture.
6. In a dish, add the filled in shells, the remaining sauce mixture and sprinkle with the grated cheese. 
7. Finish the dish by oven baking the pasta for around 10 minutes until all the Parmesan has melted on top!
8. For a lighter lunch alternative, serve half a portion with a healthy side salad!