What I love most about cooking is that it’s all (for the most part) “to taste.” You can take classic recipes and switch up the flavors to create something you and your family will truly adore. I first made stuffed shells for my mom’s birthday last year. I followed a more traditional recipe with no meat in the filling. It was delicious, and perfect for the non meat eaters that were coming to celebrate with us. This time, though, I experimented with a little ground turkey and some extra veggies to switch it up a bit and bring loads of extra flavor.
For the sauce, I admit… I cheated. I used the nearly forgotten half-jar of organic marinara sauce that’s been hanging out in our fridge for awhile now. I must say, it definitely shortened the prep time significantly (compared to making my own sauce, which I would normally do) and, after some rather involved seasoning on my part, it was quite delicious!
Actually, this turned out to be a rather easy weeknight meal that used up a good amount of leftover ingredients. The half container of ricotta was from some lasagna we made awhile back, and it was just enough to make stuffed shells for 2 (plus leftovers, even AFTER the Hulk ate his fill!). Snagged an extra carrot from the bunch we bought to make soup the other night, and the portobello slices were the lonely ones that didn’t get grilled on the hubby’s birthday. Turns out, stuffed shells are a GREAT way to sneak in extra veggies, which is perfect if you either like veggies or are trying to sneak them in without your kids detecting. Might have to test these on our 3 and 6 year old nephews next time!
- ½ box pasta shells
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 carrot
- 1 large portobello mushroom
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4 scallions
- 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ½ lb ground turkey
- 8 ounces ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- Zest of ½ lemon
- Juice of ½ lemon
- ¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 15 ounces marinara sauce
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add salt and pasta shells. Cook according to package instructions, save 1-2 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold water (this shocks them and stops them from continuing to cook) and drain again. Set aside.
- In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Saute scallions and carrots until they begin to soften, 2-3 minutes. Add in ground turkey, 1 clove of garlic, rosemary and crushed red pepper, breaking up the meat and turning it fairly consistently. Cook over medium (or medium-high) heat until thoroughly browned, but not dried out (about another 5-7 minutes or so). Once the meat is cooked, remove from the pan into a separate bowl, but keep it close!
- In the same skillet, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and mushrooms. Cook 1-2 minutes until mushrooms soften. Then add the 2nd clove of garlic and your spinach, cooking just until the spinach is wilted and mushrooms are cooked through (2-3 minutes). Remove spinach mixture from skillet onto your cutting board to cool a bit. Once it is cool enough to handle, wrap it in a kitchen towel (or paper towel) and squeeze out all the excess liquid. Then, return your spinach/mushrooms to the cutting board and give it a rough chop.
- In a small saucepan, heat your sauce over medium low heat, adding in the Italian seasoning and basil (or any other flavors you like!). Stir to incorporate, and heat until just warmed through (not boiling). Once warm, you can turn your sauce off and let it hang out until you're ready to start stuffing.
- While that's happening, grab another bowl! Add your ricotta, egg, ¼ cup parmesan cheese, lemon zest and juice and whisk until (relatively) smooth. Then add in your spinach mixture AND your ground turkey mixture and stir until everything is thoroughly combined.
- Now, you're ready to stuff! Grab a baking dish (8x10 or 11x8 will work well) and pour in about half of your sauce, spreading it out so that it coats the bottom of the dish. Then stuff and arrange your shells! I found that about a tablespoon or so is a good amount. (Honestly, as long as you don't burst the shells, you can't really overfill them, per se. It just might take a little longer for the filling to completely heat through...). Once you've got all your shells stuffed and fit snugly into your baking dish, pour the remaining sauce around/over your shells, as you desire. Top with the remaining parmesan cheese (adding mozzarella is divine here too! Sadly, we didn't have any... Hubby doesn't really like cheese that much anyway... I know, madness.) Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling up around the shells. Allow to cool ever so slightly before devouring. 🙂 Enjoy!