Ridiculously Delicious Unstuffed Bolognese Shells

This is the most decadently delicious pasta I’ve ever made! It is a bit more work than your regular bolognese but on those days where you just need a little extra, it really hits the spot.

Ingredients

500g Conchiglioni Rigate Pasta Shells

one handful (roughly 50g) slices of Italian Sausage

1 large Onion

2 cloves Garlic

2tsp dried Oregano

2tsp dried Thyme

2tsp dried Marjoram

4 large Tomatoes, diced

1 can of Tomato Paste

1/2tsp Paprika powder

Chili Flakes

300g minced Beef

a swig of Cognac

1 Burrata

1 Mozzarella Buffala

Grated Cheese

Pesto

Cook the pasta according to the package.

Heat up a bit of olive oil in a large frying pan. Halve the sausage slices (or quarter them if it is a larger sausage) and fry them until well browned on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside.

In the same pan using the oil you fried the sausage in, fry the onion on medium heat until caramelised, add the pressed garlic, oregano, thyme and marjoram. Turn the heat up high and add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir well and add a bit of water if it gets too dry. Add the paprika powder and chili flakes to taste. Turn down the fire and let it simmer.

In a separate pan fry the beef on high heat, adding a swig of cognac and salt and pepper. Break up the minced meat as much as possible so that they are no clumps of meat. When just cooked, add to the pan with the tomato sauce and stir to incorporate.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees celcius on grill setting.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the pan with the sauce, stirring well to cover it in sauce, and separating the conchiglioni from each other so that they don’t have a chance to mate.

Then roughly chop up the mozzarella and burrata, place a layer of the pasta mixture into an oven dish, add a few pieces of the cheese and generously drip a few tablespoons of pesto over the cheese. Then add the rest of the pasta and repeat the cheese and pesto, adding a bit of grated cheese on top.

Place the dish in the oven until it forms a light golden crust of cheese.