Shells with Tomato Cream Sauce

5 from 1 vote

If you’re looking for the easiest Valentine’s Day dinner idea, look no further! This recipe for Shells with Tomato Cream Sauce is literally perfection.

Prep Time5

Cook Time40

Total Time45

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: people

Author: Gaby Dalkin

Ingredients

1-½ pound medium shells
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 yellow onion finely diced
6 cloves garlic minced
1 28 ounce jar marinara Sauce
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup Shredded Parmesan plus more as needed
Fresh Basil for garnish

Instructions

Cook the shells according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water before draining.
Heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute for a 3-5 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 1 minute. Pour in the marinara sauce and add salt and pepper to taste. Stir and cook over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing sticks.
Turn off the heat and stir in cream. Add the parmesan to taste, and season to taste. If the sauce is still quite thick, add a few tablespoons of the reserved pasta water to thin to out. Stir in the cooked shells and garnish with basil and serve immediately.

Notes

Salt the pasta water until it tastes like the sea. 1 tablespoon of kosher salt per quart of water. Bland pasta water means bland pasta, and no amount of finishing sauce can fix that.
Cook the shells 1 minute under al dente. They finish cooking in the sauce. If you cook them all the way in the boiling water, they turn mushy by the time the sauce is ready.
Save a full mug of pasta water before you drain. Two cups, minimum. That starchy water is what binds the cream and tomato into one glossy sauce instead of two separate liquids.
Sweat the onion low and slow. 8 to 10 minutes over medium-low heat until it's translucent and sweet. A rushed onion stays raw and sharp inside the cream sauce.
Add the garlic last, just 60 seconds before the marinara. Garlic burns fast in oil and butter. Burnt garlic ruins the entire pot, so keep it short and watch it like a hawk.
Take the pan off the heat before you stream in the cream. Boiling cream can split, especially if the marinara is acidic. Pull from the burner, stir in the cream, then return to low heat to bring it back together.
Toss the drained shells directly in the sauce pan. Don't sauce-on-top. Tossing pasta and sauce together over low heat for 2 minutes lets the shells absorb sauce and finish cooking at the same time.
Stir in Parmesan off the heat. Adding cheese to a screaming-hot sauce makes it grainy and oily. Pull the pan, stir in the cheese, and watch it turn silky.
Tear the basil, never chop it. Knife blades bruise the leaves and turn them black. Tear by hand right before serving for the brightest color and aroma.
Loosen leftovers with cream, not water. Reheating with cream or whole milk keeps the sauce silky. Water dilutes everything you spent 40 minutes building.

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