You will need (to server around 8):
- 400g beef mince
- 700g passata
- half an onion
- one carrot
- one pepper
- 600g conchiglie
- 2 boiled eggs
- grated cheese
- olive oil
- fresh basil
- pepper
The preparation takes some time (at least two hours) as you have to cook the bolognese first, I prefer preparing it the day before, but if you have the whole day for you, you don’t really need to.
1For the Bolognese
In a deep pan, put a little bit of olive oil and gently cook the diced onion. You don’t want it to caramelize, but to melt down and become transparent. So put the hob on a small fire and cover.
While the onion are "melting", cut the raw carrot in small 1cm dices.
When the onions are done, add all the meat into the pan and turn until all it is colored [2].
Add the diced carrot and two thirds of the passata, bring back to boil and then put on a low fire and leave it, uncovered, to simmer for 40min to 1h. Add the basil, salt and pepper to you taste.
Come and check that it is not burning often and turn with a wooden spoon. You want most of the water in the passata to have gone at the end and the carrots to be almost cooked. But, you want to have a nice thick sauce, not a something dry.
You can keep that covered in the fridge for a day if you prepared it in advance.
2For the pasta bake
Preheat the oven at 180oC.
Bring a large deep pan of water to boil. Add the pasta and a pinch of salt. You want to undercook the pasta, so check on the cooking instructions and remove a minute. Check it’s not raw when removing from the fire. When they are done, pass them in a strainer and poor cold water over them.
Place the pasta in a large baking tray for your oven. Add the diced pepper, the bolognese sauce, the rest of the passata and the boiled eggs cut in eight and mix.
Cover with grated cheese and place in the middle of the oven for 40min to 1h. Check that it does not dry down too much. When it’s done, you can grill the cheese for a few minutes with the oven grill.
Serve it hot.
