Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Pasta Shells
- Total Time: 30 Minutes
Description
A wonderful pasta dish adapted from a Nigella Lawson recipe. We’d all highly recommend it – enjoy!
Ingredients
Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Pasta Shells
4, 300 g packages of frozen chopped spinach – thawed and squeezed of water
500 g or 2 c. ricotta
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. grated Parmesan
~1 t. nutmeg , or to taste
salt and freshly ground pepper
fresh herbs, chopped, to taste (optional, but dill is nice!)
500 g large pasta shells
Tomato Sauce – I recommend it fresh each time, especially since it’s so quick and it’s easy to make as much as you want/need;
1 T. olive oil AND 2 cloves garlic – minced
1/2 t. salt AND 1, 680 g bottle of tomato passata (strained tomatoes)
Marcella Hazan’s is another tomato sauce we love…and there are also a few super tasty ready-made sauces – choose your weapon and don’t look back, especially if it’s a weeknight!
Instructions
When I originally made this, I based everything on the 500 g of pasta shells. According to my notations, this turned out to be about 60 – obviously less can be made, just adjust the recipe. Cook the shells according to directions so that they end up al dente. Drain and leave them long enough so that you can touch them without burning your fingers. Meanwhile, press the spinach between paper towels to make sure it gets as dry as possible, put it in a bowl with the ricotta, Parmesan and eggs. Stir everything well, add the nutmeg, salt and pepper – season it well! Because this made so many, I stuffed the shells and what I didn’t use for dinner that night, I placed on a cookie sheet to freeze. Once frozen solid, I put them in meal-size bags.
For the sauce listed above – sauté the garlic in the oil, add the passata and salt and gently bring to a boil so that the flavors blend. Pour over your greased casserole dish full of stuffed shells, cover with more grated Parmesan and cook for about 30 minutes at 350 to 400 until heated thru.
I’m sure it would be lovely on it’s own or with a salad – we chose Winkler’s sausage on the BBQ. Happy eating!
- Category: Freezes Well, Make-ahead, Pasta, Spinach, Ricotta
Yum! I couldn’t tell how large the “large shells” were, so after due deliberation decided “Jumbo” would do. For the record, the recipe fills 36-38 jumbo shells (a 500g box).
Jen’s Mom
Well done on a fantastic website! Like everything you do, it is near perfection! So nice to read stories about the girls when I am so far away- makes me miss you more though! (Especially the times I get fed by you…) My mom tried this spinach recipe and said that it was yummy- will try it myself next week. x
Yay! – thanks so much for reading!
ok- I have made these twice now, which is somewhat of a record, seeing as we have had more ready meals in the past year than I would care to admit. Hubby loves spinach and rated them highly both times. Being lazy and short of time, i found drying the spinach cumbersome (and apparently cheap too, as the no name paper towels disintigrated so much that i worrried they become part of the dish). The second time I solved this by draining only, but adding dried breadcrumbs to the mixture. I stuffed tubes, as shells seem non-existant in the uk, and this texture really suited them. Perhaps an even lazier way would be a lazagna scenario… hey, at least it’s not a frozen pizza! xxx
Great idea – I actually keep bread crumbs in the freezer for a few dishes that I make regularly but never thought of them as a time saver! – I’m so glad you all love them – and I haven’t forgotten about the chicken!