Spinach Stuffed Shells With a Mushroom Sauce
"Watch these disappear! The shells are cooked al dente stuffed with creamy cheese and tender baby spinach topped with a tomato mushroom sauce then cooked in the oven where they plump up. And have you wanting more."
photo by Rita1652
- Ready In:
- 1hr 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 17
- Serves:
-
2
ingredients
- 1 (12 ounce) package jumbo pasta shells, cooked al dente
- 5 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1 cup hot water
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 6 ounces of pre washed Baby Spinach
- 1⁄3 cup white wine
- 1⁄8 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1⁄2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 4 cups crushed tomatoes or 4 cups your favorite tomato sauce
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- 1⁄2 cup grated pecorino romano cheese, plus extra for garnish
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 1 egg
- 1⁄2 nutmeg, grated
directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 9x13 inch pan with nonstick spray.
- Soak mushrooms in hot water.
- In a large saute pan, pour oil saute onions and garlic 1 minute add spinach cook till wilted.
- Remove spinach from pan leaving some garlic and onions in pan.
- Chop the soaked mushrooms (stems discarded) and add to pan with the remaining onions and garlic.
- Add the mushroom soaking water(strained from any grit), white wine and herbs.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Cook till liquid is all absorbed.
- Add crushed tomatoes.
- Simmer while preparing shells.
- Squeeze liquid from cooled spinach and place juice into sauce and spinach into a bowl with cheeses, egg, nutmeg.
- Mix to blend.
- Adding salt and pepper to taste.
- Spoon evenly into shells and place into pan.
- Pour sauce over shells.
- Reserving some sauce for serving at the table.
- Bake covered for 30 minutes.
- Garnish with grated cheese.
- Mangia!
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Reviews
-
This was delicious! The sauce was fabulous and really made the dish special. I followed the recipe as directed, but used some of the red wine I was going to serve for dinner in the sauce in place of the white. -
I made this for dinner last weekend and served with garlic bread and it was DIVINE! I made a few changes based on diet restrictions/ingredients on hand as follows: Used veggie broth vs. wine, used portabello mushrooms vs. shitake (I still soaked them in hot water to extract the yummy mushroom flavour though), left the egg out. Also I microwaved some butternut squash, carrots, celery, as well as roasted a red pepper over the stovetop (thank you Gas Stove!), and pureed these into the canned tomatoes before adding to the pan to cook as a sauce. I also added abt 2-4 tblspoons of tomato paste to heighten the tomato flavour. I must say the nutmeg flavour was so AMAZING! All in all, this recipe's a keeper and is going to be served at many dinner parties in the future : ) Thanks for posting! -
I make this and it is to die for...and is most delicious. Was married to an Italian and found it to be regional with the spices. This is a spectacular recipe and a keeper! -
These shells are awesome! I could hardly believe how good they were and that I made them! These should be called Houdini Shells, because they disappeared so fast :) Thanks Rita! -
I made this exactly as posted and my family and I loved it.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Rita1652
Jamesburg, New Jersey
