Lobster Stuffed Pasta Shells for Two | Food Wishes

Hi, I'm Chef John from foodwishes.com with pasta shells filled with aragosta for two. Exactly, we are moving a little bit of aragosta from one type of shell to the other. To create one of my favorite seafood pasta dishes in the oven, which I think you and I hope someone very close to you will love as much as I do. And to start, we will do a optional step, that is to pass a couple of cups of spinach in a dry pan over medium-high heat. Right, you can do these shells without, but I think they look and taste better with it. Also, it only takes a few seconds. And as soon as those spinach are 90-100%, we will transfer them to a colander and let them drain on a bowl. And once they are cold enough to handle them, we will squeeze them to let the water out and chop them. And that's it. Once our spinach is ready, we can move on to preparing our aragosta tails, which first involves removing the peel, which I like to do by cutting with scissors. Ok, we'll cut one side and then the other. At that point it will be quite easy to separate the pulp from the shell. Oh, and don't throw away the shells, because in reality we will use them to flavor our sauce, which you will see later. And once the pulp is removed, just like when we peel the shrimps, we must check twice not to peel them, which is not a vein, it is a digestive tract. And even if you don't see the vein, there could be some sand here and there. So, in general, it is not a bad idea to wash them quickly after peeling them. So, let's go ahead and do it with two aragosta tails, which we will then cut into pieces before preparing the filling. And by the way, these are two different aragosta tails. The first one I prepared I used for a little toast bread experiment with aragosta, which I'm still working on. And the only reason I say this is because the aragosta tails I'm cutting now have a slightly different color, a little more pinkish than the first one, which is very common. So, if you see a small variation in color, don't worry. But anyway, as I said, we will give that aragosta pulp a nice cut. At that point we will transfer it to a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients of the filling, which will include the spinach that we have prepared, which, as I said, have been shredded and chopped. And then I think we would like some lemon zest here, right? Not the juice. I don't think we would like that strong acidity, but rather just a little bit of that delicious and fragrant lemon flavor. I will also add a generous amount of chopped garlic, before adding some aragosta and mozzarella. I know you've heard of never mixing cheese and seafood, which I think is correct for something like, let's say, gorgonzola, but these cheeses basically have the flavor of cream, and we always use cream and seafood, so I think it's fine. And that's all. We'll finish by seasoning with a little kosher salt, some cayenne pepper powder and then, last but not least, a little smoked paprika, also known as bacon and spices, and that's all. We'll take a spoon and mix it well. Oh, and I should say that if you can or don't want to use aragosta, it will work with the same amount of raw shrimps or a little bit of cooked crab or a combination. But personally, I don't think there is anything similar to this pure version of aragosta. And then, once we have mixed it, we will put it in the fridge. And we will move on to the preparation of the sauce in which we will cook our shells, which begins by adding our cut aragosta shells that I told you to keep a little, of butter, melted over medium-high heat. And yes, as you can see, we have cut those shells into pieces of about an inch. And we will cook them, stirring for a couple of minutes, until the shells become that beautiful orange red and your kitchen is filled with the aroma of roasted aragosta. And once that happens, we will add a teaspoonful of tomato concentrate. And we will cook them, stirring for about 30 seconds, just to remove that greasy edge and make them a little tastier. And once this is done, we will transfer a cup of cream plus a drop of cold fresh water, which we will use to rinse the measuring cup. And we will give it a stir. And we will wait for it to start boiling. And while it does, we can season with a pinch of salt and maybe a couple of drops of cayenne pepper. And then, once it boils, we will let it cook for a couple of minutes or until it has slightly reduced and thickened a little. And even if it is very fast to prepare, the shells are not in the cream for so long, you will be shocked by how much aragosta flavor will be infused. I mean, they are always. But anyway, as I said, we will let it boil for a couple of minutes, or until our cream has slightly thickened. At that point we will filter it carefully. And now it is ready to be used to cook our shells, which we could have done simply with a little reduced cream. But that little extra effort we made using the shells for the sauce, really makes a huge difference in the final product. But anyway, you decide. I mean, after all, you are the boss of your aragosta-flavored sauce, I hope. And that's all. Once our sauce has thickened, we will go on and cook our pasta shells. And as usual, we will do it in a generous amount of salted water. Oh yes, when you cook the pasta, the water should taste like seawater. And if you feel lucky, cook the exact amount of shells you need. But I like to cover my shoulders, so I always cook some more in case someone breaks or cracks. Oh, and since we will cook them in the oven, we don't want them to be completely dark. So we will subtract 2 minutes from the cooking time suggested on the package. And once they are cooked long enough, we will take them out in a bowl of cold water, which will not only stop the cooking process, but will also help to wash away some starch. And that's all. Once the water has cooled, we will drain the shells and take the filling and a spoon. And we will fill exactly 8. And while you do it, make sure the filling goes all the way to the bottom. And there are no air bags. So make sure you go inside and go deep. And once filled, you can probably also put another half a spoon on top. Ok, the amount of ingredients provided in the recipe should be enough to fill 8 of these shells very, very generously. And that's all. Once our shells have been filled, we will transfer about three quarters of our Aragosta cream to a baking pan of appropriate size. At that point, we will transfer our shells and fill, and then we distance them as evenly as possible. And it doesn't matter if your pan is square, circular, rectangular or oval. What we are looking for is something that fits well and comfortably to our 8 shells, right? We want them to touch each other. But if there is about half an inch of space in the middle, it's okay. And once we have positioned and arranged them in the right way, we will cover each one with a little mozzarella, right? Not a ton, but just enough to cover it. And then what I like to do next is pour a little more sauce, which I imagine we can apply before adding the mozzarella. But only intuitively, I feel that I would like to moisten the cheese with this cream a little. Although it is difficult to express in words exactly why I think so. So do it and that's it. And then after they have been seasoned, we go ahead and grate a little parmesan for a little extra flavor. It also tends to give the surface a slightly more pleasant look if we do it. By the way, every time I put something like this in the oven, I always have the feeling of having to brown the top with a little olive oil or melted butter. So that's what I did. But these are quite rich, so you can skip this step if you want. And that's all. Now they are ready to be transferred to the center of an oven at 375 degrees for about 25 or 30 minutes or until the top starts to brown and everything is cooked. And we hope they look like this. And then, if we want, we can serve them exactly like this. But I'll finish with another sprinkle of cayenne pepper on top because I want them a little spicy. But even that pepper will make them even more Aragosti. And that's all. We'll finish with a pinch of parsley. And that's all. Our Aragosta stuffed pasta shells are ready to be tasted by you and anyone who is lucky enough to do so, which of course you will splendidly serve with a nice green salad or something like that. Okay, I didn't have one, so I'll take one with a spoon. And of course, you will put a lot of that Aragosta cream on top of the pan. And this, my friends, was really fantastic. Right. I'm a fan of Aragosta and a fan of any type of oven-filled pasta. That was a perfect bite of food. Right. While the consistency is different, the real flavor is that of the Aragosta biscuit, which is one of my favorite things to eat. And if you like it too, you will really, really love this. And I know I said that spinach was optional, but I changed my mind. You and your lover would definitely want to include spinach because I think they really make this dish much more special, not to mention the fact that it is more beautiful and more nutritious. So, to sum up, I really love everything about this dish. And whether you eat it alone or with someone special, it is a relatively easy and elegant dish to prepare and I really hope you try it soon. So, follow the link below for the quantities of the ingredients, a printable written recipe and much more information as usual. And as always, enjoy your meal.