Pasta Shells With Besciamella Sauce

This is comfort food at its best! Pasta shells stuffed with ground beef and pork than covered with a creamy Besciamella sauce is a family favorite in my Italian kitchen. This is a rich and satisfying meal best served with a side salad and a chilled white wine.

Pasta Shells With Besciamella Sauce

Serves 6

For the filling: 

• 16 ounces jumbo pasta shells
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ cup finely chopped onion
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 pound lean ground pork
• 1 cup white wine
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

Boil pasta in large pot according to labeled instructions; drain in a colander and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat; cook onions until translucent. Add garlic, beef and pork; cook meat through, about 10 minutes than drain fat. Add wine and season with salt and pepper. Simmer until most of the wine has evaporated. 

In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs. Add ricotta, Parmesan, spinach and oregano; incorporate thoroughly. Add in the cooked meat mixture; stir until all ingredients are evenly mixed.

For the Besciamella sauce:

• 4 cups whole milk or half-n-half
• 1 cup butter
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste

Warm the milk (or half-n-half) in a saucepan stirring frequently over medium-low heat, approximately 10 minutes. Set aside. 

In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk flour slowly into butter, stirring constantly to form a paste. Add warm milk to the butter/flour mixture in several portions, stirring constantly to ensure even mixing. Add nutmeg, bay leaves and salt and pepper; simmer on low heat for 5 minutes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

Spread a very thin layer of Besciamella sauce on the bottom of 13x9 baking dish. Stuff each pasta shell with some of the meat filling and place in pan. Drizzle some Besciamella over the top of each stuffed shell and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of warm water to the bottom of the baking dish. Cover pan with foil and cook shells in oven for 30 minutes. Sprinkle shells with additional Parmesan and serve.

©Recipe by Maria Desiderata Montana