Preparation time
less than 30 mins
Cooking time
30 mins to 1 hour
Serves
Serves 4
Dietary
Vegetarian
From Saturday Kitchen
Ingredients
For the pasta and filling
- 30 large conchiglioni pasta shells
- 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 2 shallots, diced
- ½ fennel bulb, diced
- 40g/1½oz Parmesan, grated
- 100g/3½oz ricotta
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
For the sauce
- 25ml/1fl oz olive oil
- 1 fennel bulb, grated (fronds reserved)
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 500g/1lb 2oz cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 50g/1¾oz good-quality black olives, pitted
- 300ml/10fl oz passata
To serve
- 50g/1¾oz Parmesan, grated
- 2 tsp fresh oregano (leaves only)
Method
-
To make the pasta and filling, cook the pasta in a pan of boiling salted water until ‘al dente’ following pack instructions. Drain.
-
Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the shallots and fennel for 10 minutes, or until softened. Remove from the heat and cool. Stir in the Parmesan, ricotta and the oregano, taste and season with salt and pepper. Place the mixture into a piping bag and fill each pasta shell with it.
-
To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and fry the fennel and garlic for 10 minutes, or until softened. Add the tomatoes, oregano, olives and passata and simmer for another 10 minutes, until softened, set aside.
-
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C/Gas 6. Tip the sauce into a baking dish and spread it out in an even layer, then top with the filled shells. Drizzle with olive oil and cover in foil. Bake for 20 minutes, or until hot all the way through.
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To serve, sprinkle over some grated Parmesan, a scattering of fresh oregano leaves and the reserved fennel fronds.