These lasagna stuffed shells, with a three-cheese filling and rich and hearty meat sauce, have all the flavour of lasagna stuffed into giant pasta shells.
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
Large pot or dutch oven
Deep large skillet
Strainer
9x13 deep baking dish
Instructions
FOR THE MEAT SAUCE:Start by finely chopping the onion and grating the carrot. Or roughly chop them both and blitz them in your food processor until fine.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan or dutch oven over medium-high heat.
Add the onion, carrot and garlic and saute, stirring often for 3-4 minutes until the vegetables have softened.
Add the beef and cook stirring and breaking up the meat until there’s no more pink left.
Add the remaining meat sauce ingredients: First the tomato passata, then add the beef stock to the empty can/jar, give it a swirl and add that in too.Now add everything else – milk, herbs, balsamic vinegar, sugar, black pepper and salt.
Stir well to combine then bring to a low simmer and cover. Keep the heat on very low heat – just enough for a few bubbles to be popping up at once. Simmer like this for around 40 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and tastes rich. The meat should be tender.
FOR THE PASTA:While the meat sauce cooks, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Add the pasta shells and cook for 8 minutes - no more. You want them to be undercooked so they don’t fall apart, and they will cook the rest of the way as the lasagna shells bake.
Drain, rinse lightly with cold water and set aside.
FOR THE FILLING:To a microwave-safe medium bowl, add the spinach. Cook in the microwave for 1 minute to wilt. Roughly chop and return to the bowl.
Add the ricotta, ½ of the mozzarella and ¾ of the parmesan. Mix well to combine.
TO ASSEMBLE THE LASAGNA SHELLS:Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan forced) / 350F.
Place a couple of good ladels full of the meat sauce into the base of a 9x13 inch casserole dish.
Fill each of the pasta shells with the ricotta filling and place them open side up into the dish. You can dot any remaining ricotta mixture around them.
Spoon over the remaining meat sauce so that it gets in and around all the shells and seeps into any gaps.
Top with the remaining 1 cup of mozzarella and ¼ cup of parmesan cheese. At this point, you can cover it with foil or plastic wrap and store in the fridge for 2-3 days (take it out 45 minutes before placing into the hot oven).
Bake for around 30 minutes if baking immediately or up to 40 minutes if from the fridge, until the inside is hot the cheese is golden and it’s blipping and bubbling at the sides.
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Notes
Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
Tomato passata: Passata is essentially just tomatoes pureed up and looks like a thick tomato sauce. It should have no other ingredients, except those that have some herbs or a little salt added. It is also known as tomato puree or tomato sauce in some places. That last one can be confusing because tomato sauce in some countries is ketchup. You don’t want that. Just pure tomatoes pureed up. Phew!
Milk: Stick to whole milk, or half n half will work. Don’t use hilo or reduced fat milk as it’s likely just to split. While you can leave it out, the milk does a wonderful job of tenderising the meat and adds the slightest creaminess to the sauce.
Balsamic: Try to stick to a standard balsamic vinegar. Caramelised balsamic or balsamic glaze are very concentrated and much sweeter. If it’s all you have on hand, you can use them but don’t add the extra sugar.
Mozzarella / Parmesan: I like use fresh balls of mozzarella that are stored in whey. You can use block style but please always grate it yourself. Please by block parmesan too. Don’t buy pre-grated cheeses if you want them to melt nicely. Pre-grated/shredded cheeses have coatings to stop the shreds sticking together but these coatings can affect the texture when they melt.
Nutrition details are approximate only - scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
Have you tried this recipe?Don't forget to leave a rating and comment below and let me know how it was! I love hearing from you. Nutrition information is approximate and derived from an online calculator. The brands you use may cause variations.