Prawn stuffed pasta shells with tomato basil vodka sauce

Ingredients

Stuffing

• 1 box of pasta shells
• 900gm raw peeled, deveined prawns
• 1 French shallot chopped
• 1 garlic clove chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ cup white wine
• Salt and pepper
• 1.5 cups ricotta cheese
• 1 tbsp chopped basil
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan

Sauce

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1 French shallot chopped
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• ½ cup vodka
• 1 400gm can whole peeled tomatoes, blended in blender
• ½ cup thickened cream
• 4 tbsp basil chopped
• Salt and pepper
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan

Method

Boil pasta shells until al dente (7-8mins) drain and immediately separate shells on to baking paper so they don’t stick together. Chop prawns into bite size pieces, sauté shallot and garlic in the olive oil in large fry pan, add wine and prawns and cook until prawns are pink. Drain liquid from fry pan and in a lge bowl combine prawns, ricotta, basil, Parmesan, and salt and pepper, set aside and make sauce.

Melt butter and olive oil in fry pan, add shallots and garlic and cook for 2 mins, add vodka and cook for 1 min more. Add tomatoes to pan and cook 10 mins then add cream and basil, salt and pepper and stir cooking for 1 more min. Take a large baking dish and place a thin layer of the sauce over the base. Then stuff pasta shells with 2 teaspoons of prawn mix and place in a single layer in the baking dish. When base of dish is covered with pasta shells cover the shells with remaining sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake in oven at 180C for 25-30 mins and sprinkle with remaining basil. Serve.