Stuffed pasta shells

  • Portion size: Serves 4
  • Takes 25 min to make, 3¾ hours in the oven
  • Difficulty: easy

Try our delicious stuffed pasta shells with beef ragù. The stewing beef will become meltingly tender and is simple to shred with some forks for an authentic ragù.

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Ingredients

  • 1 onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 celery stick
  • 100g bacon
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 fresh rosemary sprigs
  • 900g cubed stewing beef
  • 400ml red wine
  • 200ml beef stock
  • 300g giant dried pasta shells
  • 25g grated Parmesan
  • Fresh basil leaves to serve

For the roast tomato sauce

  • 1kg ripe medium tomatoes, halved
  • 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
  • 2 tsp caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp sun-dried tomato purée
  • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
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Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan170°C/gas 5. Finely chop the onion, carrot, celery stick and bacon. Spread out in a large roasting tin and drizzle over 1 tablespoon olive oil. Roast for 15 minutes.
  2. Remove from the oven, spread the tomatoes out on top, cut-side-up. Press the chopped garlic pieces into the tomato flesh to submerge slightly, sprinkle with sugar, salt and pepper and dot with sun-dried tomato purée. Tuck in rosemary sprigs. Continue cooking for 1 hour, then turn the oven down to 150°C/ fan130°C/ gas 2.
  3. Meanwhile, put a large frying pan over a medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season the stewing beef and brown on all sides in 2 or 3 batches. Add the beef to the tomatoes and pour in the red wine and beef stock. Stir, cover tightly with foil and return to the oven for 2½ hours or until the beef is tender.
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  5. Remove the rosemary stalks, and discard. Shred the meat with 2 forks and season to taste. Boil the giant dried pasta shells for 9 minutes. Drain and put in a 3-litre baking dish.
  6. Stuff each shell with ragù and sprinkle with 25g grated Parmesan. Scatter with fresh basil leaves to serve.

Quick wins & tips

Unused or leftover ragù sauce will keep covered in the fridge for 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

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