Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta Shells

Ingredients

• 500g chicken breast, sliced
• 250g large pasta shells
• 250ml cooking cream
• 200g baby spinach leaves (simmered into the sauce, not raw)
• 2 Tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 50g grated mozzarella or tasty cheese
• Basil to serve — optional garnish, skip
• 1 can crushed tomatoes, 400g
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 Tbsp olive oil — staple
• 1 head cos lettuce, washed and torn
• 1 telegraph cucumber, sliced
• 3 tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 carrot, grated
• olive oil + lemon juice or vinegar, to dress — staple

Method

1. Cook the pasta shells in salted boiling water to al dente. Drain, reserving a cup of the water.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, add the sliced chicken and brown for 5-6 minutes until just cooked through. Remove to a plate.
3. In the same pan, fry the garlic and sun-dried tomatoes for a couple of minutes, then stir in the tomato paste.
4. Add the crushed tomatoes and baby spinach, stir, cover and simmer 5 minutes.
5. Pour in the cream and stir the sauce together. Season well with salt and pepper, then melt in the grated cheese.
6. Return the chicken and any resting juices to the pan along with the drained pasta. Toss to coat, loosening with pasta water if needed.
7. Side salad: toss the torn cos, cucumber, tomato and grated carrot with oil and lemon juice or vinegar.
8. Serve immediately with the salad alongside (basil on top if you have it).

Notes

- Meat ≈500g per 4 servings per house rule (125g/serve). The source's 300g of pre-cooked chicken was under target, so it's brought up to 500g and changed form to raw breast browned in the pan. Tomato paste back to the source's 2 Tbsp; the rest of the sauce is unchanged. - Calories/protein recalculated from the ingredient list — the earlier figures were inflated. - Chicken thigh instead of breast makes it richer — add roughly 90 cal and drop about 6g protein per serve. - This is a good use for leftover roast chicken: skip step 2 and stir 400g shredded cooked chicken in at step 6. - The sauce tightens fast off the heat, so keep the reserved pasta water handy. - Veg sweep: spinach in the sauce was the only real vegetable (~50g/serve), so the house Side salad (cos, cucumber, tomato, grated carrot, oil + lemon) is now a required side, ~170g veg/serve; calories +50 and protein +1. The spinach stays as-is — single-ingredient pack, cooked into the sauce. Pasta, canned tomatoes, tomato paste and garlic lost their staple markers; basil is now an optional garnish with no shopping line.