Jumbo Meat-Stuffed Shells in Creamy Sauce with Pesto

Recipe:

Ingredient Notes:

• Pasta. This recipe calls for large shell-shaped pasta. If you don’t have one, you can use cannelloni tubes or lasagna sheets.
• Ground meat. Beef, pork, or mixed ground meat will work. If you prefer, you can use ground chicken or turkey, but you must use meat from the legs and thighs.
• Pesto. You can use ready-made pesto from a jar or make your own using this recipe.
• Mozzarella. This calls for low-moisture mozzarella normally used for pizza, not fresh mozzarella in brine. You can substitute cheddar, gouda, or emmental cheese for mozzarella.
• Flour. Flour cooked in butter acts as a thickener for the sauce. By default, we use all-purpose flour, but cake flour and bread flour will also work.
• Butter. This requires butter with a fat content of 80% or more. Alternatively, you can use clarified butter or ghee.
• Milk. Use milk of normal fat content – 2.5-4%.

Let’s start cooking.

Finely chop the onion, bell pepper and garlic. Cook the pasta according to package instructions and drain. Grate the mozzarella cheese.

Make the pesto bechamel sauce.

Make the roux. Melt the butter in a saucepan or frying pan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly.

Gradually pour in the milk, stirring constantly. Stir vigorously to prevent lumps from forming.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat.

Stir in pesto.

Stir to combine. Taste for salt and season if necessary.

Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

Prepare meat stuffing. Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and peppers and cook, stirring, for about 3-4 minutes.

Add the garlic and herb mix and cook, stirring, for another minute. Add the tomato paste.

Cook, stirring, for a few minutes until it develops its characteristic sweet aroma and rusty color.

Remove the vegetables from the pan, rinse, pat dry and reheat over high heat. Add a few tablespoons of oil and add the ground meat. Cook.

The ground meat should lose all of its pink color. Combine the ground meat with the vegetables, add the water, salt and simmer over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes.

Remove from heat.

Pour the pesto bechamel sauce into the bottom of the baking dish and spread evenly.

Fill the pasta shells with the meat filling and place them in the dish, submerging them in the sauce.

Bake in a preheated oven at 190°C (375°F) for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with mozzarella and return to oven for 7-10 minutes.

Serve.

Enjoy!

This Jumbo Meat-Stuffed Shells in Creamy Sauce with Pesto recipe was checked, prepared and approved by Chef Tatyana Nazaruk - author of FlavorIt.com.
Would you like to thank me? It's easy!