Spinach & Three Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells

By minid33

Ingredients

• Stuffed Past Shells Ingredients:
• SWEET PEA blog
• 35 conchiglioni rigati (large pasta shells N°126 from De Cecco)
• 125g ricotta cheese
• 125g cottage cheese
• 100g mozzarella cheese
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 250g fresh large leaf garden spinach
• 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pepper
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 80g of Gruyere cheese to sprinkle over shells before baking
• Homemade Tomato Sauce Ingredients:
• 400g chopped tomatoes (or 1 1/2 cans)
• 4 generous tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 a medium white onion, finely chopped
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 2 dried laural (bay) leaves
• 1 whole clove
• 2 cardamon pods
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper to taste

Details

Servings 6
Adapted from asweetpea.wordpress.com

Preparation

Step 1

Prepare the tomato sauce FIRST!

Start by finely chopping your tomatoes & then onion and set aside. Now in a sauce pan, heat the olive oil on medium heat. Add the laural leaves, clove and cardamon pods and cook for a minute. Now add the onions. Let cook until unions turn soft and translucent. Now add the minced garlic.

Next add the chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper. Stir well. REDUCE the heat to low and leave to simmer gently for at least 10 minutes so that most of the excess water from the tomatoes has evaporated. Set the sauce aside.

COOKS TRICK : If you find your sauce a little sour, you can add a sprinkle of white sugar!!

STUFFED SHELLS:

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F

SHELL preparation: Fill a very large saucepan 3/4 full with water. Add two generous teaspoons of salt and bring to the boil. Now add your pasta shell and cook for 5 minutes. Drain the shells rinsing them well with cold water and set aside.

SPINACH preparation: Wash the leaves well and remove the stalks. Place in a large heat proof bowl. Wilting : Boil 1L of water in a kettle and then pour over the spinach leaves. Cover well and leave to stand for 5-10 minutes until the leaves have wilted and are soft. Drain the spinach, removing as much water as possible. Now cut the leave up into small pieces and set aside.

FILLING preparation: Chop the mozzarella into very small 1/2cm cubes and place in a large mixing bowl. Next add the ricotta & cottage cheese, minced garlic clove, nutmeg, salt, pepper, chopped spinach, and beaten egg and mix very well.

STUFFING shells: You will need about 30 of the shells you cooked. Line the base of a oven safe cooking dish with a thick layer of the tomato sauce. Now take the shells one by one and using a small teaspoon fill to the top with the cheese/spinach filling, and place on the bed of tomato sauce with the cheese side facing up.

Grate the Gruyere (or cheddar) cheese and sprinkle over the top of the shells. Cover with aluminium foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 20-30 minutes.

NOTE: an alternative method is to make twice the sauce and to cover the top of the shells with sauce and then sprinkle with your desired cheese (mozzarella, Gruyere, cheddar) and then bake.