Giant Stuffed Pasta Shells

Description

Yummy and easy shells, stuffed with garlic, thyme, mushrooms, and spinach ricotta. Perfect for a weeknight dinner! Add more cheese or any kind of meat! A lamb/pork mixture is really good; get a nice sear on it and add it to the spinach and mushroom (sans ricotta) maybe some goat cheese? Have fun with it!

Ingredients

  • 24 lumaconi pasta shells
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 (8 ounce) package button mushrooms, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 (10 ounce) bag baby spinach
  • 2 teaspoons ground thyme
  • salt and ground black pepper, to taste
  • 2 cups ricotta cheese
  • ¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 (28 ounce) jar pasta sauce
  • ¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

  1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta shells in boiling water
  2. stirring occasionally
  3. until cooked through but firm to the bite
  4. about 8 minutes; drain.
  5. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir mushrooms and garlic in hot oil until mushrooms are soft
  6. about 7 minutes. Stir spinach and thyme into the mushroom mixture; season with salt and pepper. Cook and stir the mixture until the spinach wilts. Remove the skillet from heat and drain any excess liquid; transfer drained mixture to a large bowl.
  7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
  8. Mix ricotta cheese
  9. 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese
  10. and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese with the spinach mixture; season again with salt and pepper and stuff into pasta shells.
  11. Arrange stuffed shells into a 9×11-inch baking dish. Pour pasta sauce over the shells; top with 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
  12. Bake in preheated oven until the cheese is melted and the shells are hot
  13. about 30 minutes.

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 45 mins

Total Time: 1 hr

Servings: 6

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