Jumbo pasta shells filled with Italian sausage, spinach, ricotta and parmesan cheese, topped with cooked tomatoes and baked.
There must be a special place in heaven for men who cook. My father made this dish the other day to the delight of my mother and mother.
It never ceases to amaze me that Father, who was not a patient man to begin with and how little patience he lost in raising six children, still bothers to carefully stuff dozens of pasta bowls. Not to say there was no grumbling, but he knew the work would pay off, and it did.
Sausage, Spinach, Ricotta Stuffed Pasta Shells
Uses two 9×13 shallow baking pans
ingredients
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1 (12-ounce) package Jumbo Noodle Bowls
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1 tablespoon olive oil
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1 Cup finely chopped yellow onion
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1 lb sweet Italian sausagehousing removed
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1 tablespoon chopped garlic
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1 big egg
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16-ounces Ricotta cheese
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10 ounces chopped frozen spinachthawed, dry pressed, further chopped (or 10 ounces chopped fresh spinach)
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1 Cup grated parmesan cheese
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1 tbsp chopped fresh basil 1 teaspoon dried basil
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1/4 Cup unseasoned breadcrumbs
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1/2 teaspoon Salt
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1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
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1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes with herbs, including the liquid, crushed tomatoes (or your favorite tomato or pasta sauce)
method
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Cooking Noodle Shells:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (1 teaspoon of salt per quart of water). Cook the pasta shells according to package directions. Drain, rinse under cold water and set aside.
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Boil onions, then add sausage, then garlic:
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
Add the sausage to the pan and break the sausage into smaller pieces. Reduce the heat to medium. Cook the sausage for about 5 minutes until cooked through and no pink residue remains.
Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds to a minute longer. Remove the pan from the stove.
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Prepare the ricotta and spinach filling:
Lightly beat the egg in a large bowl. Mix in the ricotta, chopped spinach, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, basil, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and sausage mixture.
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Fill pasta shells with filling:
Fill each cooked pasta shell with some ricotta, spinach, and sausage mixture.
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Arrange the stuffed mussels on chopped canned tomatoes in a casserole dish:
Spread 1/2 cup canned chopped tomatoes on the bottom of each casserole dish. Arrange the filled pasta bowls in the bowls. Scatter the remaining tomatoes over the pasta shells.
At this point, you can pre-cook, freeze (up to four months), or refrigerate. (If it freezes, cover with foil and then wrap with plastic wrap.)
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Bake:
Heat oven to 375°F. Cover the pans with foil and bake for 30 minutes until hot and bubbly.
Remove foil and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese, bake uncovered for a further 10 minutes.
Recipe adapted from the recipe on the box of Barilla Jumbo Pasta Bowls and a recipe that appears in the Sacramento Bee.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 350 | calories |
| 16g | Fat |
| 27g | carbohydrates |
| 25g | protein |
