Conchiglioni shells stuffed with minced meat
4 servings
60 minutes
Yesterday I came across shell pasta (for stuffing) in the store. I've wanted to make it for a long time, but they're rarely found on the shelves in our local stores. I decided to stuff them the classic way , with minced meat.
1
The minced meat can be any type you prefer. I had lean pork, and I made the minced meat from it.
2
Here are the ingredients we need: tomato, if it's large, take half, otherwise it will give a lot of juice. Choose spices to your taste; I took meat seasoning, pepper mix, dried herbs mix, salt, and fresh dill.
3
First, put water on the fire to boil, to cook the pasta until semi-done. While the water is boiling, we prepare the filling.
4
Place the minced meat in a deep pan, add water, and start simmering over medium heat. Chop the onion and add it to the minced meat.
- Minced pork: 400 g
- Onion: 1 piece
5
Next, we grate the carrot on a fine grater and add garlic, then send it to sauté in the pan.
- Carrot: 1 piece
- Garlic: 3 cloves
6
Next, we peel the tomato, chop it, and add dill and everything to the minced meat.
- Tomatoes: 1 piece
- Green: to taste
7
We add all kinds of spices and salt to the minced meat, but leave 1/4 of the spices and salt for the sauce. We mix the filling and simmer until all the moisture evaporates.
- Salt: to taste
- Spices for meat: to taste
- Mix of peppers: to taste
8
At this time, the water for the pasta is boiling, add half a pack (250 g) to the water, and it's better to add the shells one by one to prevent them from sticking. You can also add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the water, just like when cooking spaghetti, to prevent sticking.
- Conchiglioni pasta: 250 g
- Vegetable oil: 4 tablespoons
9
While there's time, you can make the sauce and grate the cheese. For the sauce, take 3 tbsp of tomato ketchup (preferably sweet), you can also use tomato paste which is even better, 3 tbsp of sour cream (can be replaced with mayonnaise), finely chop or squeeze in garlic (1 clove) into the sauce, and add all remaining spices and salt (if using mayonnaise instead of sour cream, no salt is needed). Mix everything and the sauce for shells is ready.
- Ketchup: 3 tablespoons
- Sour cream: 4 tablespoons
- Garlic: 3 cloves
- Salt: to taste
- Spices for meat: to taste
- Mix of peppers: to taste
10
Grate the cheese on a fine or medium grater.
- Hard cheese: 100 g
11
At this time, we drain the pasta and let it cool; it's better not to rinse them, otherwise they will have a lot of water inside. Once the pasta has cooled, they are ready to be stuffed with filling.
12
Also, the minced meat for the filling is ready; we add 1 or 2 tablespoons of sour cream if it turned out too dry, and mix.
- Sour cream: 4 tablespoons
13
Now all the ingredients are ready, and we start stuffing the shell pasta. We don't stuff them too tightly, placing 1.5–2 teaspoons of filling in each shell and laying them in a baking dish.
- Minced pork: 400 g
14
Next, we pour a little sauce on each shell, about half a teaspoon.
- Ketchup: 3 tablespoons
15
Add water to the remaining sauce to make it liquid and pour it into molds to cover the bottom by about 0.5 to 1 cm. Sprinkle the shells with cheese.
- Sour cream: 4 tablespoons
- Hard cheese: 100 g
16
Bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes until a golden crust forms on top. You can pour sauce over all the pasta, depending on personal preference, making them softer.