Ricotta, Raisin and Walnut Conchiglioni

I confess that the two previous times I made Conchiglione (this shell-shaped pasta) I was a little disappointed. It turns out that the pasta has a wonderful shape, but when you pile them all into the dish and cover them with sauce, they lose all their charm.

This time I decided to face the challenge of not making the “shells” look like lasagna, and what’s more, to make a light recipe, since I am firm and strong in the intention of not sinking the ship on which I will travel in the month of December.

I made a basic filling: I crushed some ricotta (I prefer creamier ones), added 3 tablespoons of light cream, 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan, a handful of white raisins, a handful of black raisins, finely chopped walnuts, a few leaves of mini basil, salt, white pepper and nutmeg. I cooked the pasta in salted water, as instructed by the manufacturer. I drained it, rinsed it quickly with cold water and filled it.

On a non-stick baking tray I spread a little olive oil, arranged the conchiglioni (without sauce) and put them in the oven to brown the parmesan – detail: I used light parmesan which doesn’t have much taste and doesn’t brown even with a big prayer! As soon as I got a minimum of browning, which looked more like straw potatoes, I took the pan out of the oven and very carefully poured in some boiling water (about 1 cm from the pan) and went back to the oven so the dough reached the point and didn’t stay. tough). Didn’t it work?
To finish, I made a sauce of red tomatoes and basil blended with a little light cream because I wanted a rose sauce.

Secret: after the photo I added sauce on top, because conchiglioni really looks like lasagna!!!