Two of Michael's best friends from California (and also the best man and a groomsman in our wedding) visited Boston this past week. I took their visit as an opportunity to finally cook up something different. I have to give credit to my brother (and fellow blogger- check out Nourish) for the idea. He just moved to Philadelphia to pursue PA School at Drexel University (go Dragons!) and cooked this for his inaugural dinner in his first apartment. I tweaked the original recipe a bit and made my own sauce, which is a new must in my book. I've gone back and forth on my opinion of jarred pasta sauce, but lately I've been finding them too sugary and extremely bland. Nothing beats a homemade sauce. It's easy to make, it keeps forever in the freezer, and you get more bang for your buck. What's not to love?
For the sauce...
-Sautee one minced onion (white or yellow) and 3-4 cloves of minced garlic in olive oil over medium high heat for about 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn anything!
-Add one 28-oz can plus one 14.5-oz can of whole San Marzano tomatoes. They are more expensive than the non Marzano's, but there's a reason to that. It's worth the extra buck.
-Using an immersion blender, blend up the sauce to your desired consistency. I ended up adding another can of diced tomatoes. You could also add tomato paste prior to adding the whole tomatoes for a thicker sauce.
-Bring to a low boil and add salt and pepper to taste. You can add anything else here, too. Fresh or dried herbs (like basil, tarragon, thyme, parsley, oregano) or if you want a kick, red pepper flakes.
-The sauce is ready to use or store in an airtight container in the fridge.
For the shells...
-Boil a large pot of water, salt it when it reaches a boil, and carefully add one box (12-oz) of jumbo pasta shells. Cook according to package directions (about 9 minutes). Carefully drain and let dry on a baking sheet lined with a paper towel (they need to be cool to handle, and you want to separate them so they don't stick together).
For the stuffing...
-While the shells are cooking, brown about 1lb italian sausage (you can also used ground beef, ground chicken or turkey, or completely omit the meat).
-Also while the shells are cooking, mix together 15-oz ricotta cheese, 1 egg, a good handful (about 3/4 cup) of parmesan cheese, and 1/2 a box (about 5-oz) frozen chopped spinach (previously defrosted and drained). Add salt and pepper to taste. I also added some fresh parsley and basil.
-If you're using meat, add cooled and drained meat to the cheese mixture.
Now put it all together...
-Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a large casserole dish (13 x 9 pyrex is my go-to).
-Stuffed your cooled shells with a heaping tablespoon full of the cheese-meat mixture, and place on top of sauce.
-Continue until the dish is full (but don't overcrowd)
-Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes. During the last 15 minutes, sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.
-Serve with extra sauce, crust bread, and a simple salad.
ENJOY!
Side note: I ended up having about 15 extra shells and not enough stuffing, so if you upped the ricotta cheese to the larger size container you would be able to make another (smaller) casserole to either freeze or feed an army :)
I've seen a Pinterest recipe for Mexican stuffed shells, so perhaps I'll try that next. Stay tuned!
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