Continuing with my Italian theme right now, I made this baked shells or conchiglie recipe for dinner today. This recipe comes from a new blogger friend who writes about living in Italy and enjoying the food that comes with it, Ortensia Blu. I’ve had a box of the large dry shell pasta in my house for over a year and never got around to finding a recipe for them. Also, the idea of stuffing something (pork-chop, pasta shell) sort of intimidates me.

©EverydayCookingAdventures 2013

This recipe however was a breeze. And I was able to make the whole thing, refrigerate it, and then bake it hours later when dinnertime rolled around. Convenient! Ortensia also said you could freeze this dish if you want to make it more than a day or so ahead of time. Just don’t forget to let it defrost for a day in the fridge! There was practically no prep, except that I added about 1/3 lb. of ground beef that I browned in a frying pan while the pasta shells were cooking. I added the ground beef then to the cheese and spinach mixture to stuff the shells with.

I made the entire recipe instead of halving it like I normally would for the two of us because this way we have leftovers for lunch and another dinner. The shells came out absolutely melt-in-your-mouth delicious! Cheesy, baked, meaty goodness. The spinach definitely adds a nice complement of flavor and color and the meat added some more depth to the dish. Here are my baked stuffed shells:

Baked Stuffed Shells ©EverydayCookingAdventures 2013

Baked Stuffed Shells

Recipe From: Ortensia Blu and adapted from Lidia’s Italy in America
Serves 8-10

Ingredients
4 – 5 cups of tomato sauce (preferably homemade), warm
1 lb. large shells (conchiglie)
1 lb. fresh ricotta
10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and drained
large dash of nutmeg
1 lb. low-moisture mozzarella (12 oz. cut into ¼” cubes and 4 oz. shredded)
2 c. grated Grana Padano (or Parmigiano Reggiano)
3 T. chopped Italian parsley
1 egg, beaten

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Put the shells in salted, boiling water and cook ⅔ of the recommended cooking time. Drain and put on sheet trays making sure they don’t stick together.
2. In a bowl, combine the ricotta, spinach, nutmeg, cubed mozzarella, 1 cup of the grated cheese, parsley and beaten egg.
3. Mix the shredded mozzarella and remaining grated Grana Padano/Parmigiano-Reggiano together and set aside.
4. Spread 2 cups of the tomato sauce in a 9″ x 13″ or 10″ x 15″ ceramic or greased glass baking dish.
5. Stuff each shell with 1 Tbsp. of the ricotta filling and arrange in the baking dish. Top with 2 more cups of the sauce and sprinkle the reserved mozzarella/Grana Padano cheese mixture. Add remaining sauce over the top if desired.
MAKE AHEAD TIP: Cover the baking dish with foil and place in fridge up to 1 day in advance. Bring to room temperature out of fridge about 30 minutes before desired baking time. If looks dry, add a little more tomato sauce over the top to moisten.

FREEZE AHEAD TIP: Cover the dish tightly with a layer each of wax paper, plastic wrap and foil. It can be frozen for up to one month. Remove the waxed paper and plastic wrap and reseal with foil before baking. If baking shells from a frozen state, allow 60 minutes total cooking time.

6. If cooking right away, tent the baking dish with foil and bake about 25 minutes until bubbly. Remove foil and bake until golden and slightly crusty, about 5-10 minutes more.