In the Kitchen With Mattie

Stuffed Shells

Today I made a few stuffed shells. They are very easy to do, they do take a little time though, but they freeze and re-heat wonderfully so when I do make them I always make extra to put in the freezer, they can be microwaved from frozen in just a few minutes or left to defrost in the fridge and then baked in the oven, either way on nights when you don’t feel like cooking you can still eat a home made dinner that isn’t loaded with chemical names you can’t pronounce let alone know what they are without a chemistry degree. I use Barilla jumbo shells for this recipe and it seems to me that they are making the actual shell smaller than they used to be, on the other hand there seems to be more of them in the box. I used about a half of a box today and that was 20 shells. We each had 3 for our dinner so I have 14 of them stuffed in the freezer now for those quick meals or when I haven’t remembered to take something out to defrost. This recipe is for a half box quantity, if you do the whole box then double the filling ingredients and have more sauce handy.

                                                 Stuffed Shells

1/2 box Barilla Jumbo Shells apprx 20

15-16 ounce container of fresh ricotta cheese

1 1/2 pound fresh mozzarella, half sliced and the other half grated or shredded, save the sliced for topping the shells before baking them

1 cup fresh grated reggiano parmesan cheese

1/2 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry, you can also use fresh, chopped finely

1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper

4 cups of your favorite tomato sauce

Bring a 4 quart pot of water to a rapid boil and add the shells along with a tablespoon of salt. Cook about 7 minutes, until a firm al dente stage. Drain and rinse the shells in cold water to chill them and stop the cooking process, set aside to drain.

In a large bowl mix the ricotta, the grated mozzarella, the parmesan, the spinach, salt and pepper, make sure it is well mixed and the spinach is well distributed thoughout.

Put  two small ladels of the sauce in the bottom of a shallow oven safe casserole. Take a shell and fill it with approximately 1 heaping tablespoon of the filling, place in the casserole with the cheese facing upwards. Continue filling until you have used all the filling and shells. Cover the shells with a few ladels of the sauce and then cover them with the sliced mozzarella. Bake the dish at 350 until it is hot and bubbling and the top is lightly browned, let sit 15 minutes to settle before serving so the cheese firms up a little and doesn’t all run out when the shells are served.

These can be frozen either baked or unbaked, you can  lay them out not touching each other after they are stuffed on a sheet pan and place them in the freezer until they are frozen solid, then place them into a double zip lock bag, take out whatever amount you need for a dinner when you need them, add the sauce and top with sliced mozzarella and bake as before.

4 Responses to “Stuffed Shells”