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Calamarata Pie/Bake

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Serving: 8
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 5 hours
Total Time 5 hours 20 minutes

Ingredients
 

  • 1 kg mince
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 5 shortcut bacon chopped
  • 1 kg blanched skinned chopped tomatoes
  • 140 gram tomato paste
  • 2-3 cloves garlic
  • 2 tablespoons Italian herbs
  • ½ cup beef stock
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Calamarata pasta raw (I used about 350 grams)
  • 250 grams grated cheese (more or less depending on your taste)
  • Sour cream for serving

Instructions
 

  • Brown mince in a frypan and drain fat. Add onion, bacon and fry for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, herbs and stock and mix well.
  • Allow to simmer while you place pasta shells upright in a lined sc, place them as tight as possible. I double lined mine to give extra strength to make it easier to lift out of sc.
  • Once you have your shells in, taste sauce and adjust flavour to your taste, pour your mince mixture over. I like to push mixture down with a spoon but with the shells having a large hole it will sink down as it cooks.
  • Cook with lid on for 4 hours on low. You can check if pasta is cooked by sticking a skewer into the middle.
  • Place cheese on top and cook until cheese has melted with lid off, about hour. I only put cheese on half as some didnt want cheese.
  • Turn off sc and leave for 15 minutes to rest, this seems to help with keeping pasta together and I use this time to dish up my salad.
  • Remove from sc, cut into portions and serve with salad and/or chips and sour cream on top. This was cooked in my 5.5L cookwell sc
  • Extra tip: Dont throw away broken bits of pasta. Push them into any gaps or break up smaller and sprinkle into your shells before placing mince in.