Delicious pasta shells stuffed with a creamy mixture of crab, ricotta, and dill, topped with bacon breadcrumbs and baked in a rich sambuca cream sauce.
1: Preheat oven to 350°F.
2: Cook the bacon in a dry pan on medium heat until crispy. Strain the fat and set aside the bacon.
3: Return the fat into the pan and toast the panko until golden brown, add the bacon, and mix until combined.
4: Cook the pasta in salted boiling water according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Strain the pasta and mix in the olive oil.
5: In a large bowl, combine ricotta, crab, dill, salt, and old bay. Fill the pasta with a large spoonful of the crab mixture.
6: In a saucepan with canola oil, sauté shallots and garlic on medium heat until translucent. Deglaze the pan with sambuca and flambé.
7: Add the cream and milk, simmer for 10 mins. Whisk in the flour and parmesan and simmer for another 3 mins or until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
8: Ladle half the sauce into a casserole dish, lay the pasta over top, and then top again with the remaining sauce.
9: Cover with tin foil and bake in the oven for 20 mins.
10: Remove the foil and finish baking for another 5 mins. Finish off the pasta with lemon juice and bacon breadcrumbs.
