This should look really attractive, if you don't try and squash too many stuffed pasta shells (conchiglie) into the dish, like I do!
It's very similar to my recipe for spinach and ricotta lasagne, although I like to use more parmesan in this recipe. If you want to include mozzarella, then you can either grate some into the filling and/or grate some over the top of the shells before they go into the oven.
It takes a little longer than the lasagne to make, because you need to fill each of the pasta shells individually. However I do think it's worth that little bit of extra effort for how pretty it looks!
Serves 3-4
To make the tomato sauce:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 white onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 x 400g cans of tinned tomatoes
2 tablespoons of sun-dried tomato paste
2 tablespoons of dried oregano
1 bay leaf
Pinch of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
Handful of basil leaves
To make the spinach and ricotta filling:
400g cooking spinach
250g ricotta
75-100g parmesan
Nutmeg
Seasoning
1 egg
For the pasta bake:
200g conchiglie
Parmesan
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
For the tomato sauce:
- Finely dice the onion.
- Heat the olive oil in a lidded sauté pan or large saucepan.
- Add the onion and sauté until translucent.
- Add the crushed garlic and stir for a further 1-2 minutes, being careful not to let the garlic burn.
- Pour in the chopped tomatoes and red wine vinegar, then stir in the sun-dried tomato paste, dried oregano, bay leaf and sugar. Season well.
- Bring the tomato sauce to the boil then cover, lower the heat and simmer for 30-35 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and stir in a handful of torn basil leaves.
For the spinach, ricotta and parmesan filling:
- Put a drizzle of olive oil in a large pan, over a low heat.
- Once the oil is up to temperature, add the spinach and stir until just wilted. It may not all fit in the pan initially, so keep adding spinach to the top and stirring it in, until all of the spinach has wilted.
- Spoon the spinach into a fine sieve over a bowl and leave to cool and drain.
- Once the spinach has cooled, squeeze out any remaining moisture into the bowl. Pour the liquid away (or save for soup).
- Chop the spinach and place back into the empty bowl.
- Grate over the nutmeg and the parmesan and stir in the ricotta and egg. Season well.
For the pasta bake:
- Cook the conchiglie according to the packet instructions until it is al dente. Drain well to remove any excess water.
- Pour the tomato sauce into the bottom of a lasagne dish. Spread evenly.
- Spoon the spinach, ricotta and parmesan mixture into the conchiglie using a teaspoon.
- Place the conchiglie into the tomato sauce and when the dish is full, grate over some parmesan.
- Cover with foil and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and then return to the oven for a final 10 minutes.
