Love Nests

Total Time: 40 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 2 (28 ounce) diced tomatoes with juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 red onion, finely diced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
• 6 anchovies, finely diced
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 40 g pancetta, finely diced
• 40 g sausage meat
• salt and pepper
• 10 g unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 125 ml milk
• 2 teaspoons fresh chives
• 3 tablespoons pre-shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
• 120 g fresh ricotta
• 75 g frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained of any excess liquid
• 65 g sun-dried tomatoes
• cooking spray
• 250 g dry pasta

Recipe

• 1 heat deep fry pan then add oil; fry onions for about 3 minutes; add garlic; fry additional 2 minutes until onions are soft.
• 2 add in tomato paste; stir for about a minute until combined.
• 3 add in diced tomatoes in tomato juice, bay leaf, anchovies, water, red pepper flakes and xylitol; adjust to personal taste.
• 4 bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer 45 minutes.
• 5 in additional fry pan, fry pancetta and chorizo sausage meat until golden brown; add to marinara mixture.
• 6 marinara done! :).
• 7 in a saucepan, add all bechamel ingredients (except cheese) and stir "continuously" with a wooden spoon until sauce thickens.
• 8 heat oven to 180°c (350f).
• 9 place breadcrumbs on a baking tray; bake for 5 minutes (until dry, not browned); remove; set aside.
• 10 in a bowl, combine ricotta and spinach.
• 11 cook spaghetti in boiling salted water; cook for 7 minutes (al dente); drain; oil spray; set aside for about 10 minutes.
• 12 place 1/2 cup of cooked pasta into a plastic measuring cup. place the 1/4 plastic cup inside the cup with pasta. if you don't have plastic measuring cups, you get the idea that the spaghetti needs to be "packed" down tightly; can do by hand while pasta is "in" something.
• 13 quickly, turn measuring cup over onto marinara sauce; be gentle but quick lol you want it so it looks like a mound.
• 14 g-e-n-t-l-y, with the back of a teaspoon push down on the spaghetti to form a round hold without going through the bottom of the spaghetti. you can stop with the teaspoon fits inside the nest with a bit a room around it too!
• 15 place 1 - 2 teaspoons of spinach ricotta mixture in the base of the nests. with a spoon (or with your fingers ;-) ) gently push down until it covers the base. you do not want to push too hard that the nest will collapse. ;-).
• 16 top with 1 -2 teaspoons of bechamel sauce.
• 17 top with breadcrumbs; can add a few pieces of shredded cheese (optional).
• 18 bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.