Baked Tomato & Cheese Conchiglioni

Baked Tomato & Cheese Conchiglioni from Jamie's Food Tube: The Pasta Book. Gennaro Contaldo's incredible recipe for these cheese
and tomato-stuffed giant pasta shells is sure to go down a treat with friends and family. Easy and impressive, Italian food doesn't get
better than this!

From the book

Jamie's Food Tube: The Pasta Book by Gennaro Contaldo

Introduction
Baked Tomato & Cheese Conchiglioni from Jamie's Food Tube: The Pasta Book by Gennaro Contaldo.

Serves 4
Easy

Ingredients

20 conchiglioni (120g)

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1½ x 125g balls of mozzarella cheese

175g quality ricotta cheese (available at Italian delis)

40g Parmesan cheese

20 large fresh basil leaves

½ quantity simple tomato sauce (see below)

Instructions
Gennaro's Simple Tomato Sauce

Tip 4 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes into a bowl, then break them up with your hands. Pour in 1 tin of cold water. Peel and nely slice 3
cloves of garlic and ½ a fresh red chilli (optional), then pick and roughly chop the leaves from 1 bunch of fresh basil. Put the garlic, chilli
and 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil into a large pan over a high heat. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes and basil leaves.
Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low. Cook for 30 minutes, or until
thickened to a rich, silky sauce.

For the Baked Tomato & Cheese Conchiglioni:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Cook the conchiglioni in a large pan of boiling salted water until very al dente – it’ll
continue cooking in the oven, so it’s important not to overcook it. Drain well, making sure you empty any water out of the shells, then cool.

To make the lling, nely chop 1 ball of mozzarella and place in a large bowl with the ricotta. Finely grate in half the Parmesan, use your
hands to scrunch it all together, then season to taste. Take level tablespoons of the mixture and roll it into balls – you should have 20
altogether. Place each ball in a basil leaf, then put each inside a conchiglioni shell, like you see in the pictures (see below).

Reserving half a ladleful of the simple tomato sauce, spoon the rest into a 20cm x 30cm ovenproof dish. Lay the lled pasta shells on top in
a single layer, then drizzle over the remaining sauce. Cover with tin foil and place in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden and
bubbling, removing the foil and tearing over the rest of the mozzarella for the nal 15 minutes. Once ready, nely grate over the last bit of
Parmesan and return to the oven for a nal 2 minutes to melt before serving.