Creamy Beef Sauce with Pasta Shells
I recently found some gluten free pasta shells at the supermarket, which I was super excited about. The recipe I had in mind for it was a creamy beef sauce. I couldn’t find a recipe that I liked, so I made it up a bit as I went along and it turned out beautifully! An instant family favourite, it’s already been requested that we have it again soon. By the way, you can also use other pasta for this. I love the pasta shells with it, as the sauce nestles in to them, but something like fusilli would also work well.
Ingredients
- 500g pasta shells (gluten free, if required)
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 shallots
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 500g beef mince
- 1 tin/ pack of passata
- 2 Tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 100ml cream
- 150g grated cheddar cheese
- salt & pepper
- 50g finely chopped spinach (optional)
- small handful of chopped fresh parsley to serve (optional)
Tip: If you are using the spinach (see recipe option below), you only need a small amount. It’s the kind of thing where you buy a bag, use a handful, and then the rest goes off in the fridge. So what I do is chop up the whole packet, set some aside for the recipe, then portion the rest in to 50g bags and pop it in my freezer. Perfect spinach portions for the next time.
Directions
Peel and finely chop the shallots. Cook them in a large frying pan or sauce pan in the oil with a pinch of salt (I use a large wok style frying pan) on a low heat until they start to soften, stirring occasionally, ca 5-10 mins.
In the mean time, put a large saucepan of water on to boil for the pasta.
Peel and mince or grate the garlic. Add to the shallots and stir for about 1 minute, then add a dash of water to help prevent the garlic from burning.
Add the mince and break it up with a wooden spoon, mixing it in to the shallot and garlic mixture. Turn the heat up to medium, and keep stirring and moving the beef around the pan until it is starting to brown all over.
Add the passata, tomato puree, dried herbs and paprika, and cook on a medium heat for 10-15 minutes to let the flavours infuse and the mince cook right through. Stir occasionally to stop it sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.
While the sauce is cooking, put your pasta on to cook according to packet instructions.
After the sauce has cooked for a while, add 1-2 ladles of the starchy pasta water to loosen up the sauce a little. Add the cream and grated cheese, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat once the cheese has fully melted in to the sauce, and pop on a lid to keep it warm until the pasta is done.
Optional: You can stir in some chopped spinach at this point. I have found that it’s the texture of spinach my children don’t like, when it wilts and goes stringy, so the solution is to finely chop it and then they are fine with it. But if you have any spinach refusers in your family, you can also just leave out the spinach OR serve some without spinach first and then stir in the spinach for those who do like it. Save goes for the chopped fresh parsley at the end, add to the pan before serving if everyone likes it, or pop a small dish of it on the table for anyone who wants some to add it themselves to their plate.
Once the pasta is done, drain the pasta then add it to the pan with the sauce (or add both to the pan the pasta was cooked in, whichever pan is bigger and will hold everything better), and mix it together until the pasta shells are fully coated with sauce. I found it’s easier to do this in the pan before serving.
Serve and enjoy!
