Stuffed Shells

Creamy, cheesy, and rib-stickin'...adjectives I love to see applied to my dinner!   Howsabout applying these to some Italian tonight? Whaddaya say?  I knew you'd be into it.

Step into my kitchen and let's make stuffed shells!  First, we'll need to get our shells in some boiling water.  Make sure you're using a large pot for this as we don't want the shells to stick together while cooking...they need plenty of room to float around.

While they're boiling away, let's get messy.  Grab a large bowl and fill it with the contents of a large container of ricotta cheese, 2 eggs, 1 bag mozzarella, 1 tbsp. parsley, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, and 1 tsp. Italian seasoning.  Get your (clean) hands in there and squish it all together.  Ta-dah!  You've got filling!

Haha! I cheated and used a spoon to start mixing!

Rinse off your gooped up hands (unless you also cheated and used a spoon).  By this time, your shells should be done boiling.  Drain them carefully and rinse them briefly with cold water to stop their cooking.  Nothing worse than a soggy shell when you're trying to fill it...trust me, it's a pain.

Before we stuff the shells, we'll cover the entire bottom of our baking dish with a thin layer of sauce.  For an amazing homemade sauce, take a gander at the bolognese sauce I used for my pasta and meatballs recipe here.  A real bolognese sauce contains meat, so feel free to add a pound of sauteed ground beef or turkey to this basic sauce recipe to layer over your shells as they bake.  If you're short on time, I suppose you could use a jarred sauce such as Prego or Ragu.  Do what you love!

I made the Bolognese sauce with meat, so here it is in the pan!

 

Now, grab a shell and cup it in your hand like a little boat.  Spoon in as much of the filling mixture as your little pasta boat can handle!  Keep this up until all your shells are full.

Red wine photobomb...

Gently place your stuffed shells on top of the sauce layer in as many rows as you can fit into the dish.  I was able to get quite a few in there, but still ended up using two dishes.  As you might have heard/guessed, I love to eat so the more the merrier!  These are also great leftover so there's never any worry about having too much of a good thing.

Fill 'em to the brim!

With the stuffed shells in place, ladle another thick layer of sauce on top of them.  We don't want the shells to dry out as they bake...blech.  On top of the sauced shells, sprinkle the other bag of mozzarella cheese.  You could also add some shredded and/or grated parmesan or romano or asiago as well at this point, if so desired (or if you're me.) 

Saucy and cheesy (wait, are we describing me or the meal?)

Pop 'em in the oven til they're nice and bubbly and melty. 

Delicious baked goods...

Carefully scoop out a few, blow on them (they're hot!), and gobble them up!  You'll thank me, I'm certain.

Try it.  You'll like it.

-Sam


Stuffed Shells

1 large container ricotta cheese
2 eggs
2 bags shredded mozarella
1 tbsp. parsley
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. italian seasoning
1 box jumbo pasta shells
2 cups pasta sauce

Oven to 350. In a large stockpot, boil the jumbo shells according to package directions.  Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix ricotta, eggs, 1 bag mozzarella, parsley, nutmeg, and italian seasoning by hand until well combined.  Drain shells and quickly rinse with cold water.

Evenly cover the bottom of a baking dish with a thin layer of sauce.  Holding a shell in your hand, fill the cavity with the cheese mixture.  Lay the stuffed shells side by side in the baking pan.  Cover with more sauce and 1 bag shredded mozzarella cheese.  Bake for 25 minutes, until hot and bubbly.