Hello everyone, Jess here.
Today we spent some time prepping for tomorrow’s Easter Dinner. This year my mother decided to make her stuffed shells, and to share the recipe with us! These little numbers are pretty simple to make, yet elegant, filling, and they give the illusion that you worked all day making them.
For almost every potluck dinner growing up, this was my mother’s go-to dish, and it was nice to watch her in action prepping hers tonight. As she made a great big amount for the dinner party, I shadowed her using my Springdell ingredients. Below I’ll share my mom’s recipe for mass producing them (for parties, potlucks, etc), but you can also scale them back as I did, using items from the 9th Winter CSA share box.
Here is Ma’s traditional list of ingredients. (Whenever she makes them, it’s a whole lot of them, so please feel free to adjust the ratio accordingly:)
- 2 32 ounce containers of Ricotta Cheese
- 1 regular sized box of jumbo pasta shells
- 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- salt and ground pepper to taste
- 1/4-1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 small boxes frozen chopped spinach, thawed
- 2 24 ounce jars of spaghetti sauce (1 jar for the bottom, one jar for the top)
- 1/2 cup of bread crumbs (Italian seasoned or plain, depending on your mood and taste preference)
- 4 eggs, beaten
While your shells are boiling (until just a little beyond al dente so they are pliable but not falling apart), stir together the Ricotta, chopped spinach, bread crumbs, eggs, Parmesan and roughly 2 cups of the mozzarella cheese in a large mixing bowl. Stir gently until combined.
Meanwhile, spread 1 jar of the sauce with just enough sauce to cover bottom of your baking pans. Begin spooning the mixture into your shells, lay them into the pan and sprinkle with the remaining amount of mozzarella and a good spoonful of the remaining jar of sauce.
You can make these ahead, sprinkling the sauce and cheese just before baking. Bake at 375 for about 20-30 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the shells are heated through and you’re ready to serve!
My version used the remainder of my Springdell mozzarella, burrata, ricotta, chopped fresh spinach, eggs and the very last of my Summer CSA pureed pasta sauce from the chest freezer (boy I’m gonna miss it!)
I’ll post pictures tomorrow so that you can see the final product.
How are you enjoying your share? Please share with us, we’d love our community recipe collection to grow with your help! In the meantime, we hope you enjoy your weekend, however you are celebrating it!