Shrimp & Crab Cannelloni in Pink Cream Sauce

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A trattoria-style baked cannelloni that skips the pasta machine and the boiling pot: no-boil lasagna sheets are softened in hot water, rolled around a filling of sweet lump crab, chopped shrimp, spinach and lemony ricotta, then blanketed in a rosy tomato-cream sauce built from the shrimp shells you'd otherwise throw away. That 20-minute shell stock is the whole trick — it gives the sauce the deep shellfish sweetness that restaurant kitchens get from lobster stock, for the price of a bag of shell-on shrimp.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb shell-on raw shrimp (16/20 count)
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 small yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 1 medium carrot, roughly chopped
• 1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/4 cup brandy or dry white wine
• 3 cups water
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf

• 5 oz fresh baby spinach
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 15 oz whole-milk ricotta
• 8 oz lump or claw crabmeat, picked over
• 3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1 pinch sugar (if needed)

• 12 sheets no-boil (oven-ready) lasagna noodles
• 1 1/2 cups shredded low-moisture mozzarella
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil or parsley, for serving

Instructions

1. Peel and devein the shrimp, saving every shell (and heads, if present) in a bowl. Chop the peeled shrimp into 1/2-inch pieces, cover, and refrigerate. You should have about 1 pound of chopped shrimp meat.
2. Make the shell stock: melt 3 tablespoons butter in a 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp shells, onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring, 5–6 minutes, until the shells turn deep coral and smell toasty. Stir in the tomato paste and cook 1 minute more.
3. Pour in the brandy and let it bubble down for 1 minute, scraping the pan. Add 3 cups water, the thyme and bay leaf, bring to a simmer, and cook uncovered at a lazy bubble for 20 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing hard on the solids; discard solids. You want about 1 1/2 cups deeply flavored stock — if you have more, boil it down; if less, add water.
4. While the stock simmers, cook the spinach: heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add the minced garlic and cook 30 seconds, then add the spinach in handfuls and cook 2–3 minutes until fully wilted. Scrape onto a plate to cool, then squeeze it dry in a clean towel and chop finely. This is important — wet spinach makes a loose filling.
5. Make the filling: in a large bowl, stir together the ricotta, chopped spinach, crabmeat, 3/4 cup Parmesan, egg, lemon zest, parsley, nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Fold in about two-thirds of the chopped raw shrimp (reserve the rest for the sauce), keeping the crab in visible lumps. Refrigerate until ready to roll.
6. Make the sauce: melt 2 tablespoons butter in the (rinsed) saucepan over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and pepper flakes, cook 1 minute, then add the crushed tomatoes and cook 3 minutes to darken slightly. Pour in the reserved shell stock and simmer 8–10 minutes until reduced by about a third. Stir in the heavy cream and 1 teaspoon salt, simmer 3 minutes, then taste — add a pinch of sugar if the tomatoes are sharp. The sauce should coat a spoon and be a clear rosy pink.
7. Heat the oven to 375°F. Fill a 9x13-inch baking dish or roasting pan with very hot tap water and slide in the no-boil lasagna sheets one at a time so they don't stick. Soak 5–8 minutes, until floppy and bendable but not falling apart. Lay them on clean kitchen towels and pat dry.
8. Spread about 1 cup of the sauce over the bottom of a buttered 9x13-inch baking dish. Working with one pasta sheet at a time, spoon a scant 1/3 cup of filling in a log along one short end, then roll up into a tube. Nestle the tubes seam-side down in the dish in a single layer — 12 rolls fit snugly in two rows.
9. Stir the reserved chopped shrimp into the remaining sauce, then spoon it evenly over the cannelloni, making sure the pasta ends are covered so they don't dry out. Scatter the mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan over the top.
10. Cover tightly with foil and bake 30 minutes, then uncover and bake 15–20 minutes more, until the sauce bubbles at the edges and the cheese is spotted golden. A paring knife should slide through a roll with no resistance.
11. Rest 10–15 minutes before serving — the sauce thickens and the rolls hold their shape. Scatter with basil or parsley and serve two cannelloni per person with plenty of sauce spooned over.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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