Hi Everyone!!
It's Meghna!! So I am a complete sucker for any sort of baked pasta dish. I just love the gooey melted cheese on top of bubbling pasta sauce, what could be any better? Growing up I lived down the block from a pizzeria called Cugini's. Cugini's was my place to go after school, for dinner, for a snack, pretty much whenever I got hungry and didn't want to cook. When my mom wasn't home my sisters and I would order baked ziti from Cugini's for dinner and thus began my obsession with baked pasta. Now I LOVE baked ziti and lasagna, but this recipe was a recipe that a neighbor of ours introduced to us when I was younger. It's been a hit ever since. You won't just eat 3 or 4 shells, you'll find yourself unintentionally devouring 5 or 6 shells in one sitting.
Ingredients
- 2 bags of fresh baby spinach
- 1 chopped medium size onion
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 small container of ricotta cheese
- 1 box of jumbo shells
- Tomato sauce, either homemade or your favorite jar sauce
- grated mozzarella cheese to top it all off
- 2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 F.
2) Bring a big pot of water to boil, add salt for flavor. Cook the shells till they are a minute under al-dente. Strain from water and immediately run under cold water to prevent further cooking.
3) On a skillet, bring 2 Tablespoons to heat, add the onions and garlic and red pepper flakes. Slowly add the spinach in batches. Cook and add more spinach till all the spinach is cooked.
4) Add salt and freshly ground pepper to add taste.
5) Remove the skillet from heat and allow for the onions, garlic and spinach to cool.
6) Once the spinach is cooled, add the container of ricotta cheese, mix thoroughly and add a pinch of salt.
7) In a baking dish, add a single layer of tomato sauce to prevent sticking.
8) Stuff each shell individually with the spinach and ricotta cheese. (The more the merrier =])
9) Cook the shells with tomato sauce, add enough because the shells will use a lot of the mositure from the sauce to cook more in the oven.
10) Bake covered for 30 minutes.
11) Remove from the oven, uncover and add mozzerella cheese on top. Bake again for another 15 minutes.
12) Remove and let it stand for 5 minutes before digging in.
Enjoy!!!
***TIP***
- If you want a lighter version of the meal, replace the ricotta cheese with cottage cheese. I know it's not a cheese that you would normally put in an Italian dish, but it was actually the way that I learned to make it. I actually prefer cottage cheese instead of the ricotta, but when cooking for others I use the ricotta cheese to give it a creamier center.
Let me know what you think!
Happy Cooking!!
It's Meghna!! So I am a complete sucker for any sort of baked pasta dish. I just love the gooey melted cheese on top of bubbling pasta sauce, what could be any better? Growing up I lived down the block from a pizzeria called Cugini's. Cugini's was my place to go after school, for dinner, for a snack, pretty much whenever I got hungry and didn't want to cook. When my mom wasn't home my sisters and I would order baked ziti from Cugini's for dinner and thus began my obsession with baked pasta. Now I LOVE baked ziti and lasagna, but this recipe was a recipe that a neighbor of ours introduced to us when I was younger. It's been a hit ever since. You won't just eat 3 or 4 shells, you'll find yourself unintentionally devouring 5 or 6 shells in one sitting.
 |
| Stuffed Shells!! |
Ingredients
- 2 bags of fresh baby spinach
- 1 chopped medium size onion
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 small container of ricotta cheese
- 1 box of jumbo shells
- Tomato sauce, either homemade or your favorite jar sauce
- grated mozzarella cheese to top it all off
- 2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 F.
2) Bring a big pot of water to boil, add salt for flavor. Cook the shells till they are a minute under al-dente. Strain from water and immediately run under cold water to prevent further cooking.
3) On a skillet, bring 2 Tablespoons to heat, add the onions and garlic and red pepper flakes. Slowly add the spinach in batches. Cook and add more spinach till all the spinach is cooked.
4) Add salt and freshly ground pepper to add taste.
5) Remove the skillet from heat and allow for the onions, garlic and spinach to cool.
6) Once the spinach is cooled, add the container of ricotta cheese, mix thoroughly and add a pinch of salt.
7) In a baking dish, add a single layer of tomato sauce to prevent sticking.
8) Stuff each shell individually with the spinach and ricotta cheese. (The more the merrier =])
9) Cook the shells with tomato sauce, add enough because the shells will use a lot of the mositure from the sauce to cook more in the oven.
10) Bake covered for 30 minutes.
11) Remove from the oven, uncover and add mozzerella cheese on top. Bake again for another 15 minutes.
12) Remove and let it stand for 5 minutes before digging in.
Enjoy!!!
 | |
| The stuffing in the shells. |
***TIP***
- If you want a lighter version of the meal, replace the ricotta cheese with cottage cheese. I know it's not a cheese that you would normally put in an Italian dish, but it was actually the way that I learned to make it. I actually prefer cottage cheese instead of the ricotta, but when cooking for others I use the ricotta cheese to give it a creamier center.
Let me know what you think!
Happy Cooking!!
