Spinach Stuffed Shells With a Mushroom Sauce

Rita~'s Note:

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.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 2

• 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:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with nonstick spray.
3. Soak mushrooms in hot water.
4. In a large saute pan, pour oil saute onions and garlic 1 minute add spinach cook till wilted.
5. Remove spinach from pan leaving some garlic and onions in pan.
6. Chop the soaked mushrooms (stems discarded) and add to pan with the remaining onions and garlic.
7. Add the mushroom soaking water(strained from any grit), white wine and herbs.
8. Season with salt and pepper.
9. Cook till liquid is all absorbed.
10. Add crushed tomatoes.
11. Simmer while preparing shells.
12. Squeeze liquid from cooled spinach and place juice into sauce and spinach into a bowl with cheeses, egg, nutmeg.
13. Mix to blend.
14. Adding salt and pepper to taste.
15. Spoon evenly into shells and place into pan.
16. Pour sauce over shells.
17. Reserving some sauce for serving at the table.
18. Bake covered for 30 minutes.
19. Garnish with grated cheese.
20. Mangia!

Reviews

[Wish I Could Cook]

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.

[Anna the Foodie]

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!

[HotPepperRosemaryJelly]

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!