I love the way these big, beautiful pasta shells hold pesto and all sorts of other flavours inside their cavity. Each mouthful is hidden with surprise, bursting with texture, taste and crunch.

Even my most pernickety child loved this dish, so much so that he put down his knife and fork mid-meal and began to use his hands, so that he could neatly stuff the creamy goats cheese and crunchy garlicky chilli crumbs into the enormous shells.

Upon Fussy's insistence I decided to follow his lead, and so I too downed my cutlery, rolled up my sleeves and began to stuff the conchiglioni with goats cheese and chilli breadcrumbs.

It's simple moments like this that fill my heart with such delight!


 


Conchiglioni with Goat's Cheese, Pesto & Chilli Crumbs

Ingredients

For the pesto

A bunch of fresh basil

2 cloves of garlic

250ml extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt & freshly ground pepper


For the chilli breadcrumbs

2 cups of fresh breadcrumbs

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1tsp of dried chilli flakes

A glug of olive oil

Sea salt & freshly ground pepper


For the pasta

500g conchiglioni

250g fresh goats cheese

A cup of grated grana padano





Method

1. To make the pesto put all the pesto ingredients into a food processor and purée. Alternatively, if you are a die-hard purist you could use a mortar and pestle.

2. Meanwhile cook the conchiglioni in a large pot of salted boiling water according to the instructions on the packet.

3. To make the chilli breadcrumbs toss all the ingredients together so that the garlic and chilli is evenly distributed and that the breadcrumbs are well coated in olive oil. Bake in a moderate to hot oven for ten minutes until breadcrumbs are crisp and golden brown.

4. Drain the pasta reserving a little of the cooking water. Stir pesto through the conchiglioni adding a little of the reserved cooking water if you want to loosen the pesto a bit, add the grana padano and stir everything through. Divide between plates and then crumble a little of the goats cheese onto each serve. Scatter a generous amount of the chilli breadcrumbs onto each serve before serving.