Glen's stuffed shells

15 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 Box san giorgio jumbo shells; (12-oz ea)
48 ounces Part-skim ricotta cheese *1
2 cans Delmonte d'italia classic marinara; (26-oz ea) *2
1 cup Chopped fresh spinach *3
1 tablespoon Dried thyme; crushed
1 tablespoon Dried oregano; crushed
1 tablespoon Dried basil; crushed
1 tablespoon Kosher salt *4
2 teaspoons Coarse-ground black pepper
1½ tablespoon Minced garlic
12 ounces Shredded mozzarello cheese *5

Directions

Note 1: Part-Skim is very important! If you use whole-milk cheese, the filling will run all over the place while cooking. You probably will wind up using 47 ounces with a 32-oz and a 15-oz container.

Note 2: Any type of the cheapest Marinara sauce will do.

Note 3: Do not try this with frozen spinach! As with the cheese, frozen spinach will turn the filling into a runny mess.

Note 4: The filling will taste salty before cooking, but will be just fine after cooking.

Note 5: Fat-Free Cheese is very good here! This is pretty much a recipe that my son used when he was working at Ferrentelli's in Salt Lake City.

Mix Ricotta, spinach and all seasonings well.

Boil shells 15 minutes in a large pot of boiling salted water, to which about 1 tablespoon cooking oil has been added. The box will probably say to cook for a shorter amount of time, but I've found that 10 minutes is just not enough. Drain shells and allow to cool enough to handle.

Spread about ⅓ of the Marinara sauce over the bottom of a LARGE cookie sheet.

Stuff the shells with the filling. Here's where it helps to have two people in the kitchen! A great time-saver (not to mention your sanity) is to use a pastry bag without a tip to fill the shells. One person holds the shells open while the other pipes the filling in. Fill them well. The filling should be enough to stuff 30-36 shells, so you will have some shells left over. Don't use any broken shells if you can help it.

Place shells on cookie sheet slit-side up. Spoon the remaining marinara over the shells, being careful to make sure the pasta gets sauce on it to prevent burning during baking.

Mound the Mozzarella on top of each shell. Bake at 375F for 20 minutes.

Place under broiler until cheese browns.

At two shells per person, this recipe will easily feed 15 people -- just make sure you don't invite my wife or kids, because they can easily put away about half of this in one sitting! Recipe by: Ferrentelli's Restaurant, Salt Lake City, UT

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