The perfect warming pasta dinner on a freezing stormy night. A classic Italian pasta bake with jumbo pasta shells stuffed with loads of spinach, a little ground turkey/chicken, ricotta cheese, fresh basil, Chile flakes and nutmeg. The filled shells are then nestled in a spicy red sauce with a touch chili flakes, fennel seeds and oregano. Then topped with mozzarella to make the coziest Italian dinner to serve any night of the week, or for your next gathering with family or friends.
This impressive Italian favorite has all the classic flavors you expect and is way easier to make than it looks. Make it to feed a crowd or divide them in batches and save for later(freezes really well). There’s something about that classic combination of pasta, melted cheese, warm spices, herbed tomato sauce that is truly divine-so-comforting and hits the spot on those gloomy winter nights, don’t you think!
Steps For Perfect Stuffed Shells
- Pre cook the shells: Cook the shells according to the package instruction but one minute less—you want them al dente, almost cooked with a hard bite. But not over-cooked since they’ll finish cooking during the baking process.
- Make the filling: Season, brown the ground chicken or turkey till its fully cooked and most of the moisture has gone. Then allow it to cool a bit. Cook and squeeze out as much moisture out as possible from the cooked spinach once cool enough to handle. Mix the cooked ground chicken with ricotta cheese, basil and spinach in a bowl.
- Fill: the cooked giant pasta shells with the filling you just prepared and place them in a casserole dish thats coated with little sauce.
- The sauce: Choose your favorite marinara sauce, or make from scratch(recipe below) and spoon it over the stuffed shells.
- Bake: When ready to eat generously sprinkle the cheese, bake until the cheese has melted and pasta is cooked.
- NOTE: The filling to pasta ratio worked for me. The size of the pasta, the kind of spinach you use may vary(fresh or frozen) because of that the ratio of pasta to filling may not be the same. If you have extra filling simply mix it with the tomato sauce. No one will know.
Things I Learned With Experience
I made this and similar recipes a few times and discovered a few tips and tricks that has helped me perfect baked pasta dishes.
- Pasta shells are sold in package of 12 oz or 17 oz. I also noticed jumbo shells are not that easy to find as medium shells. Specialty Italian markets like Eataly stock all sizes and types of stuff-able pastas, if your city has specialty Italian markets, its worth checking it out or look online.
- This recipe has a couple of extra components to prepare and little extra time to make, so its worth making a full batch and freezing it for later. It does freeze very well. To freeze prepare as the recipe says, don’t add the mozzarella cheese topping, then cover, use freezer bags or container, and freeze. Defrost in the fridge when ready to cook, add the mozzarella and bake as usual.
- Classic recipes use meat or ground meat as the main ingredient for the filling, I like to balance by subbing part of the ground meat with hearty vegetables. Veggies like eggplant, spinach, butternut, cauliflower, mushroom hold up well, make it lighter while still having a bit of meatiness without compromising on flavor + you don’t need to make a separate vegetable side.
Easy Stuffed Pasta Shells
Equipment
- Casserole about 9"X13"
- Medium Sauce Pan
Ingredients
- 12 oz giant pasta shells also called Conchiglioni
- 1 lb lean ground turkey or chicken high quality, organic
- 12 oz ricotta
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese or Grana cheese
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella, grated
- 4-5 cups baby spinach, cooked down to one heaped cup, about 8-10 oz frozen chopped spinach defrosted, moisture squeezed out as much as possible
- 28 oz can peeled plum tomatoes
- 3-5 cloves garlic, minced about 1 tablespoon
- ½ tsp grated nutmeg
- 1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly pounded
- 1 tsp oregano or Italian seasoning
- ½-1 tsp chili flakes, or as needed
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- sea salt and black pepper as needed
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F.
Cook the Chicken
- In a large skillet on high heat brown chicken until its fully cooked. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook the spinach
- Cook (defrost if frozen) the spinach in a saute pan just enough to wilt it. Once cool enough to handle squeeze as much moisture out as possible. Once completely cooled, chop and mix it in a bowl with the ricotta, cooked turkey or chicken, Parmigiano, nutmeg, salt and pepper as required. Set aside.
Tomato Sauce
- Heat the olive oil in a sauce, add the fennel seeds, chopped garlic and cook until they start to soften and brown. Add the peeled plum or San Marzano tomatoes, I like to squeeze with my clean hands to break them up. Let the sauce simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add salt, Italian seasoning and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.
Cook the Shells
- Place a pot of water to boil. Add salt when it starts to boil. Cook the shells (conchiglioni) a minute less than the time recommended on the box or until fully al dente, then drain and let the pasta cool. (it’s better to separate the shells before they cool, they may stick together)
Assemble
- Pour a little sauce in the bottom of a 9*13 baking dish. Stuff each (cooked al dente) shell with 2 heaping tablespoons of the chicken/cheese/spinach mixture. Place the shells open side up on the sauce. Stuff all the shells and neatly place them in the baking dish with the tomato sauce. Spoon the sauce, parmesan and mozzarella cheese.
- Bake until hot, bubbly and the cheese has melted, about 25 minutes. Serve with a green salad or roasted vegetables for a hearty Italian winter dinner!
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