Skip to main content

Stuffed Shells

Welcome back to Chez Chefpo! 
Today, we have a recipe for Italian Stuffed Shells! Fun fact, the Italian name for this is conchiglie (The Italian word for shell is conchiglia, so that's just the plural form of shell). However, I feel like I've never seen it written like that. 

This recipe is a little bit different from a normal stuffed shells recipe because the traditional dish uses just the cheese mixture in the middle while ours uses half of that type of mixture and the other half is a bolognese sauce. But don't worry, there's still plenty of cheese for this is topped with cheese and then some!

Stuffed Shells


Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients:

Ricotta Sauce:
  • 16 ounces ricotta cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1/4 cups Parmesan cheese (optional)
  • Salt to taste
Bolognese Sauce:
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1/2 medium onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 can (14 ounces) crushed tomatoes
  • 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
  • 1 can tomato sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon herbs (italian seasoning, parsley, basil, whatever)
  • Salt and pepper to taste 
Or instead of the last seven items (crushed tomatoes to salt and pepper), you can use one jar of your favorite marinara/pasta sauce. We used Rao's Homemade.
You can also add 1/2 a cup of red wine if you like.

Assembly:
  • 1 box (12 ounces) big shell pasta
  • 1 cup marinara sauce
  • 1 cup mozzarella cheese
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
  • Some parsley

Directions:

  1. Cook the pasta shells.
  2. Meanwhile, prepare the ricotta sauce:
    1. Add everything into a bowl and stir it until smooth. This may take a while but the texture is important.
  3. Prepare the bolognese sauce:
    1. In a pan, saute the onion until soft. Then, add in the garlic.
    2. Put in the ground beef now and cook until it's brown.
    3. Add the rest of the ingredients in and mix. If you're using pre-prepared pasta sauce, this should be pretty easy.
    4. Simmer for at least 30 minutes. The longer you cook it the better, we recommend 2 hours.
  4. Assembly!
    1. Take a large dish (the one you'll be serving the recipe in) and put the 1 cup of marinara sauce in evenly on the bottom.
    2. Fill half of each shell with the bolognese sauce.
    3. Fill the other half of each shell with the ricotta sauce.
    4. As you make each shell, place them into the dish. Make sure that they're pretty tight!
    5. Sprinkle on top the 1 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup parmesan, as well as some parsley.
    6. Put it in the oven at 350° covered for 25 minutes. Then, cook it uncovered for another 25 minutes.
    7. You're done!
Voila! This really hits the spot when you're craving Italian food since it's got everything: the bolognese, the ricotta, the pasta, and most importantly, the cheese. Plus, eating it is fun because the giant shells are just great vehicles of taste for your mouth. Feel free to try this recipe with just the ricotta to make it a little more classic!

Bonus: I got this picture that was surprisingly a e s t h e t i c so I'll drop it here. You could use it as a computer background or something. 

-Chefpo
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fig Crème Fraîche Cake

Welcome back!  Today, we have a cake featuring an interesting fruit: the fig! Figs are typically eaten dried or in some processed form because they don't stay fresh for long, so making this dish out of fresh figs was quite nice. Once completed, the fig flavor blends in very well with the rest of the cake and creates a dessert that is flavorful but not overly rich. Fig Crème Fraîche Cake Makes a 9" cake Ingredients: 1/2 pound figs, quartered (if you have big figs, maybe 6-8 slices) 120 grams cake flour 50 grams almond flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 50 grams sugar 60 grams honey 120 grams crème fraîche 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier 1/2 cup melted butter Directions: In a bowl, sift in the dry ingredients (cake flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt). Mix this together. In another bowl, put in the sugar, honey, and crème fraîche, and mix them together.  One add a time, add the eggs and mix thoroughly. Add in the vanilla ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Brownie Cheesecake

Welcome back to Chez Chefpo!  Today, we have a delicious treat that combines two wonderful desserts into one! If you like brownies and cheesecake, you're going to like this too, as the two flavors really balance and complement each other. It also goes well with some fresh fruit and is a good final course of a meal. (In fact, you got a sneak peek at it in our Pasta Salad recipe!) Brownie Cheesecake Makes a 9" round pan Ingredients: Brownie: 6 ounces dark chocolate 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter 2 tablespoons brown sugar 6 tablespoons sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 75 grams cake flour 1 tablespoon cocoa powder 1 teaspoon espresso powder 1/2 teaspoon salt Chocolate chips (optional) Cheesecake: 8 ounces ricotta cheese 8 ounces cream cheese 4 ounces plain greek yogurt 2 eggs 50 grams sugar 1/4 cups dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, blueberries) soaked in rum/brandy/Grand Marnier Lemon zest (optional) In place of the ricotta cheese, you could use another 8 ounces of c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pearl Meatballs

Welcome back!  Today, we have a unique recipe that comes from Central China: Pearl Meatballs! The name is quite interesting but makes sense: they're meatballs, but the translucence of the sticky rice that coats the meatball mirrors the luster of a pearl. It's often served on special occasions, like Lunar New Year, where everyone gathers for a feast and can enjoy this delicious dish. Plus, it's not even that difficult to make! Pearl Meatballs Makes about 30 meatballs Ingredients: For the meatballs: 1/2 pound ground pork 1/4 pound shrimp 80 grams (about 1/2 can) water chestnuts, finely chopped 2 tablespoons green onion, finely chopped 1/2 teaspoon ginger, minced 1 teaspoon soy sauce 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon rice wine 1 teaspoon sesame oil 1/4 teaspoon white pepper 1/2 egg white For the rice: 1 cup glutinous (sticky) rice Directions: Rinse the glutinous rice and soak in water for 2 hours. In a bowl, place all the ingredients for the meatballs and mix until even. The mixture...
Post a Comment
Read more