Ricotta & Spinach Stuffed Shells
Ricotta cheese and pasta…is there a better combination? Ricotta cheese and spinach are stuffed inside of traditional pasta shells and are baked with lots of tomato sauce and lots of mozzarella cheese! Serve this with a side of salad and garlic bread and you will have a cozy Italian dinner any night of the week!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup yellow onion finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 3 cups fresh spinach thoroughly washed
- 3 cups ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese grated
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt plus more for salting the water
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese grated
- 1 package large pasta shells
- water for boiling
- 4 cups tomato sauce jarred or homemade
Instructions
To prepare the filling:
- Begin by cooking the spinach. Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the olive oil and onion. Cook the onion until it has softened and has become translucent, but not browned, about 3 to 4 minutes. Once the onion has softened, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Remove the onion and garlic from the pan and place in a mixing bowl to cool. Next, add the spinach to the pan and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the spinach has wilted.
- Next, add the spinach to the pan and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the spinach has wilted. Remove from the heat and allow the spinach to cool completely. Once cooled, squeeze and much liquid as you can out of the spinach mixture, then roughly chop the spinach into bite-sized pieces and place it in the mixing bowl.
- Add the ricotta cheese, Parmigiano, cayenne, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup of mozzarella to the bowl with the spinach and mix to combine.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Once the water has come to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of salt to the water followed by the pasta shells. Cook the pasta shells as directed on the package, minus 2 minutes. This will leave the pasta shells a bit al dente and will allow them to continue to finish cooking in the oven. Once the pasta shells are cooked, drain them and rinse them with cold water until you are able to handle them.
To assemble and bake:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large 9×13 inch casserole dish, spread 1 1/2 cup of tomato sauce evenly across the bottom of the dish. Next, fill each shell with two heaping tablespoons of the ricotta and spinach mixture (or less depending on the size of your shells) and add it to the dish. Continue this process until all the pasta shells are filled, or you run out of ricotta mixture.
- Spread the rest of the tomato sauce evenly across the top of the pasta shells and then top the whole dish off with the remaining mozzarella cheese.
- Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes in the oven. After 45 minutes, remove the foil and cook, uncovered, for an additional 15 minutes so that the cheese can get lightly browned on top of the casserole.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Serve this with a nice fresh salad and a side of garlic bread and enjoy!
Nutrition
Calories: 413kcalCarbohydrates: 15gProtein: 26gFat: 28gSaturated Fat: 16gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 96mgSodium: 1289mgPotassium: 751mgFiber: 3gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 2987IUVitamin C: 17mgCalcium: 537mgIron: 3mg
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