Welcome foodies and friends! As stated in yesterday's blog entry, we are going to be making a wonderful pasta dish. No, no, no. I'm not talking fettuccine or spaghetti. I'm talking stuffed shells. Gigantic pasta that looks like a seashell. In fact, my family just made a similar recipe this past week, the only difference is we made ours Tex-Mex style.
For tonight's recipe, we are staying classic. We will utilizing sausage and spinach. If you aren't a fan of spinach, I'm sure that you can alter the recipe to suit your tastes. We're going to keep the introduction short today because I'm anxious to get cooking. I invite you all to join me, and I hope to see you there!
Sausage Stuffed Shells
Yields 4 Servings
You will need:
- 16-18 jumbo pasta shells
- 1 pound fresh pork sausage links, casing removed
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and squeeze dry
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- salt and freshly ground pepper
Ready?
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and fill a large bowl with cold water and ice, set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Add pasta shells and cook according to package directions.
- Drain well then add to ice water until ready to stuff.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add pork sausage then use a wooden spoon to break up the sausage, cook 5-6 minutes until browned.
- Add garlic and cook 30 seconds then add tomatoes and spinach (make sure the thawed frozen spinach has been squeezed dry); cook 1 minute.
- Remove pan from heat and stir in ricotta cheese.
- Using a spoon, fill pasta shells with pork filling and arrange in a baking dish (9-inch x 9-inch baking dish works well).
- Sprinkle tops with shredded cheese then bake in the oven 25-30 minutes until cheese has melted and tips of shells begin to crisp and brown.
I hope you all enjoy this recipe. I'll be back tomorrow with something new. Have a great day and happy blogging to all!
