Sunday 31 May 2009

Italian Favorites: Stuffed Spinach and Ricotta Shells

My oldest son was watching Giada's show on the Food Network with me couple of weeks ago( he *adores* Giada, by the way) and in one of the recipes, she had made "Stuffed Pasta Shells", now....this caught both mine and his attention right away and we
decided to make it for our supper.

Last night, I tried it and it came out quite good, a little too bland for my palate, but good nonetheless!

Here's what you need:





  • Large Pasta Shells- as needed
  • Salt to taste
  • 24 ounces part skim ricotta cheese
  • 1-2 packets- baby spinach, chopped
  • 1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs, Italian seasoned
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
  • 1 medium red onion- sliced
  • 2-5 cloves garlic, diced
  • 2 cans (15 ounces) stewed tomatoes, undrained
  • 3 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves
  • 1 1/2 to 2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Make the Pasta Sauce beforehand. See my old recipe for a homemade version, you can substitute a jarred one, but fresh pasta sauce makes a tremendous difference!

Cook shells in boiling salted water, following package directions. Drain in a colander and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine ricotta cheese, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt and parsley, mix until well blended.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat; add onion and sauté until golden in color. Add garlic, and then the chopped spinach. Add peppers or any other veggies you like. Cook until just wilted. Season with a pinch of nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Cool for 10 minutes and mix it along with the cheese mix that you just prepared. You will be stuffing each pasta shell carefully with the spinach and cheese mixture.

Pour sauce into a baking dish. Carefully spoon cheese mixture into shells; arrange shells, opening side up, in tomato sauce in the pan. Pour more sauce over shells. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 375° for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Return stuffed shells to oven and bake, uncovered, 10 to 15 minutes longer.

Enjoy this recipe hot out of the oven, with some garlic bread and or a salad.

18 comments:

Pavani said...

I happen to like Giada too, some of her vegetarian dishes are just to die for. Your stuffed shells look awesome.

mona said...

Giadia's my favorite too! Her charming cooking style and presentation is infectious. I love to try out her recipes too, ofcourse with my own Indian twist to them.
The paste shells look droolworthy!

Sonia said...

Wow...another delicious Pasta recipe. I love pasta so will try this version soon. Thanks for sharing Trupti.:)
(sevenspice.wordpress.com)

Manasi said...

One of these days (soon..read after the in laws go back) I shall try this! YUM!

Ramya's Mane Adige said...

I love Giada too!!! :)) this dish sounds and looks really good.... thanx for the recipe

Bhawna said...

Hi Trupti, I'm ur blog lover and had tried many of ur gujrati recipes. Today like my routine when I visited ur blog was really surprised. Even I made stuffed shells 2 days back. Recipe is still in my draft. Ur right they comes out really good. Recipe was kind of same but i used crushed jelopeno paste to give this recipe taste for our palate.
Thanks for sharing.

Vani said...

Looks good, T! I love stuffed shells and like with all the Italian food I cook at home, i add red pepper flakes quite liberally for some heat :)

Unknown said...

Looks too too good! Italian food rocks!

the twins said...

those look really good, thanks for the recipe!

Mallika said...

Looks delicious. Did you find it fairly straightforward or a bit complicated?

Veda said...

I love giada too!!!!!I watched food network almosy every day when in US and tried so many dishes....i loved this recipe too!

sangeeta said...

the dish looks so beautiful.......i love the taste of spinach n ricotta...as i make ravioli stuffed with it....and i use homemade pasta sauce always...it was nice to see this combo in a shell pasta which looks much more delectable.
thanks for visiting my blog , will be in touch.

AMIT said...

Its delicious recipe.

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Anonymous said...

Dear Trupti, your stuffed shells look yummy....a delicious recipe for Pasta...cheers!

Miri said...

This looks really amazing!

Meenakshi said...

Looks delicious..... gotta try it! Thanks for your comments on my blog. :) Can I make a suggestion/request.... cud you add an Index of recipes to your blog... wud make browsing so much easier. :)

Nagesh's Blog said...

Looks Very good.

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Rumela said...

I like this stuffed spinach and ricotta shells recipe. these Pasta Shells are sure to taste great and are extremely nutritious as well. I am going to make it for the holidays when my kids will be at home. I'll be sure that what they are eating is healthy. thank you for shearing your post.

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