Conchiglioni (jumbo pasta shells) with prawns or scampi
A very beautiful stuffed shell pasta recipe from Puglia which will impress your guests no end!
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 30 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 300 g conchiglioni (large shell pasta)
- 800 g scampi or large prawns
- 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 50 g butter
- 1 handful fresh parsley (chopped)
- 1 carrot (finely chopped)
- 1 celery stalk (finely chopped)
- 1 onion (peeled and finely chopped)
- 1 garlic clove (peeled and chopped)
- 1 tsp dry or fresh Rosemary
- 5 ml brandy
- 120 g chopped tomatoes or tomato pulp
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- salt (for pasta and to taste)
- black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- 1
wash and peel the scampi/prawns.
- 2
Chop half of them into pieces
- 3
Leave the rest whole with the heads and tails
- 4
In a pan heat the butter and oil and add the garlic, rosemary and finely chopped celery, carrots and onion
- 5
Allow the vegetables to cook until they start to soften.
- 6
Add all the scampi/prawns (chopped and whole) to the pan and cook until they are slightly brown, pour the brandy over them and continue cooking until the alcohol evaporates.
- 7
Remove the whole scampi/prawns from the pan, remove their heads and keep the body with the tails warm.
- 8
Put a pan of water on to boil for the pasta. Add salt when the water starts to boil and bring to the boil again.
- 9
Add the tomatoes to the sauce, simmer for 10 minutes and then add the curry powder.
- 10
Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- 11
Add the chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper. (In some recipes cream is added here but I decided not to. You can, of course!)
- 12
Cook the pasta very al dente in the boiling salted water.
- 13
Drain the pasta and place side by side in a baking/oven dish
- 14
Fill each shell with the tomato and scampi/prawn mixture. You can either place a whole scampi/prawn tail at the bottom of each shell first before the sauce or place them scattered on the top of the stuffed pasta shells.
- 15
Cook the stuffed shells under the grill or in a preheated oven (180°) for 5 minutes until the pasta starts to brown at the edges, serve immediately.