Ricotta & Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells
This quick and easy vegetarian meal is perfect for weeknights.
Ingredients
- 250 g jumbo pasta shells, Conchiglioni
- 100 g cheddar cheese, grated
Ricotta & Spinach stuffing
- 200 g baby spinach leaves
- 1.5 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- green chillies, to taste
- 2 balls fresh mozzerella
- 340 g skim-milked ricotta cheese (use cream cheese if you can't find ricotta, its easy to make yourself too!)
- 2 tbsp cream cheese
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp finely chopped basil (optional)
Marinara Sauce
- 400 g marinara sauce (you can use Dolmio sauce too)
- 0.5 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
Instructions
Ricotta & Spinach Stuffing
- Saute spinach with the olive oil, garlic and green chillies.
- Add the ricotta, cream cheese, egg and salt & pepper to the spinach mixture.
- MIx the spinach and ricotta mixture thoroughly. Once cooled add 1.5 balls of shredded mozerella (add basil, optional).
Marinara sauce
- Mix the Dolmio sauce with minced garlic and black pepper.
Pasta stuffing and layering
- Boil the jumbo pasta shells until they are al-dente (cooked but firm). Fill the pasta shells with the spinach & ricotta mixture. Avoid the temptation to overfill. You may want to use a piping bag for this stage.
- Make a layer of marinara sauce on the bottom of an oven tray. Neatly layer stuffed shells on-top of the marinara sauce.
- Add a layer of cheddar cheese and the remaining mozzerella on top of the pasta shells and bake in the oven at 200°C (Gas mark 6) for 20 minutes.
- Serve with garlic bread/garlic butter, new potatoes.