Pork & Fennel Sausage Stuffed Shell
Pasta Bake
Yup she’s a mouthful, but she’s a delicious mouthful and completely worth the effort! Make sure you buy GREAT quality pork & fennel sausages here. I buy them from my local butcher, he has great sausages, if you live near me, he’s the Well-hung butcher. Great name if you ask me! Your butcher might also just do an Italian pork snag and that’s totes fine to use too.
I am also SO obsessed with adding red wine to my tomato sauce these days. I add it after cooking the onion and it goes all sticky and jammy which gives it a sweetness and depth.
Ingredients
(Serves 4)
Tomato Sauce
1 red onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
¼ cup red wine
400g jar or can of tomato passata
1 tsp salt
Shell Stuffing
6 GREAT quality pork & fennel flavoured sausages
100g ricotta cheese
½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese
½ tsp salt
cracked pepper
Everything Else
400g of large pasta shells
200g of fresh mozzarella cheese, I mean you could use grated here too. You do you!
½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese
a small handful of fresh picked oregano leaves
Prep It
Preheat oven to 200°c on FB.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil and salt heavily.
Dice onion, mince garlic and grate both measures of cheese. Set them aside separately.
Using scissors or a sharp knife, slice those snags open and remove all the beautiful pork and fennel filling. Place the filling in a large bowl and discard the sausage skins.
Set all of this aside ready for you to call upon when needed.
Cook It
Add pasta shells to boiling water and cook for 8 minutes, until half cooked. They will cook more later and you don’t want them all soft and breaky when you stuff them. Drain and set aside to cool a little.
Heat a good drizzle of oil in a pot on medium heat and let’s get saucy. Add onion, garlic and salt and cook for 3-4 minutes, until soft. Add wine and cook for about 2 minutes, until thick, syrupy and jammy. Add tomato passata. Fill passata jar or can a third of the way up with tap water, swish it around to get all the tomato and add that to your pot too. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cook for about 15 minutes. Taste and season accordingly at the end.
Fill It
While sauce cooks add ricotta, salt and half of the grated Parmesan to the bowl with the sausage and mix well with clean hands. Really get in there and squeeze it all around, it’s quite therapeutic.
Now if you have one you can fill a piping bag with the filling OR use a dessert spoon to fill shells with about 1 tablespoon of sausage filling.
Bake It
Your tomato sauce should be cooked by now. Pour it into the bottom of a baking dish and as you fill your shells place each one neatly on the sauce. Squish them in if necessary. Tear mozzarella into chunks and place on top of shells followed by second measure of Parmesan and oregano. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes, until golden and bubbly.
Eat It
Serve the pasta up for everyone ensuring you get all the crispy edged pasta shells, you did all the work hon, reward yourself!