so a couple weeks ago, i had mentioned that i wanted to post a new recipe each week. i've finally decided to stop being lazy and make good on that so i made something brand spankin' new tonight.
it was simple and tasty enough for me to share with all of you! i'm crossing my fingers that i'll stick with this weekly.
what's in it:
10 pasta shells or manicotti shells (i couldn't find pasta shells anywhere! so i had to stick with the most difficult sort of shell in the universe: the manicotti. boo!)
1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce
1 15 ounce container of ricotta cheese
2 cups of chopped spinach
½ cup of grated parmesan
kosher salt and pepper
½ cup of grated mozzarella
1 package of ground turkey/beef (totally optional. this can be a completely vegetarian meal but in our house, we love meat)
how to make this so you can eat it:
set an oven rack to the highest position and heat oven to 400° F.
cook the pasta shells according to the package directions. drain and run under cold water to cool. (i boiled the pasta for exactly 8 minutes and found that they were still extremely al dente. i suggest going for exactly 10. you don't want them too soggy otherwise they'll start splitting apart like nobody's business)
spread the marinara sauce in the bottom of a large broiler-proof baking dish.
in a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, spinach, parmesan, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
if you're choosing to add meat to the shells, go ahead and cook the ground turkey or beef in a non-stick pan with a little e.v.o.o, salt and pepper.
after the pasta shells are done cooking, fold in the cooked meat into the ricotta cheese mixture
if you're using pasta shells, it should be easy to spoon in the mixture. but if you are using the horribly fussy manicotti shells, i found it easiest to push in the mixture using your fingers. stuff them until a little bit of the mixture is poking out on each side
grate your fresh mozzarella
sprinkle the shells with the mozzarella
increase heat to broil. broil the shells until cheese begins to brown which should be at around 2 minutes. do not do more than that. i did and i slightly over-broiled them (which is so typical of me, by the way)
once out of the oven, they should look like this
and then your plate should look like this
tore it up.
the dish is a little rich but what helps is if you use skim ricotta and ground turkey which is a leaner meat. it was super simple to make (minus the damn manicotti shells) and it was a fun change in our dining routine. i would definitely make this again and if you choose to make it as well, i hope you find it just as good as we did.
morgan came up with the snazzy catchline for new recipe wednesdays! isn't he cute?
xo!
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