Serves a Crowd
Stuffed Shells with Creamy Tomato Parmesan Sauce
- Serves 6
Author Notes
One night while at my parents' for dinner my dad prepared a stuffed shell dish that was just delicious. It then dawned on me that I rarely experimented with creating this type of meal and thought I should give it a go! This recipe is one of the many I dreamt up...very simple but that's often is best! —JennT1981
What You'll Need
Ingredients
-
1 splash
cooking spray
-
6 cups
water, for boiling
-
16 ounces
jumbo pasta shells
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2 tablespoons
olive oil
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3
cloves garlic, minced
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1
onion, diced
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1 1/2 pounds
ground beef
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1 dash
salt
-
1 dash
cracked pepper
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1 tablespoon
dried thyme
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2 cups
ricotta, whipped with a fork
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2
eggs, beaten
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2 tablespoons
unsalted butter
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1/4 cup
flour
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2 cups
milk
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1/4 teaspoon
ground nutmeg
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1 dash
salt
-
1 dash
cracked pepper
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1/2 cup
parmesan, freshly grated
-
1/2 cup
marinara
-
1 cup
mozzarella, shredded
-
1/4 cup
fresh parsley, finely chopped
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large pot bring enough water to a boil to cook shells until al dente, about 7 minutes.
- Drain without rinsing and set aside to cool.
- In a large skillet heat oil over medium and add garlic and onion.
- Cook just until tender, 3 to 5 minutes being careful not to burn garlic.
- To same skillet add ground beef and cook until no longer pink, about 8 to 10 minutes, season with thyme and salt and pepper to taste.
- Drain and place in large bowl and set aside.
- In a small bowl combine ricotta and eggs and whip with fork to mix thoroughly. Set aside.
- In a medium sauce pan heat butter over medium and add flour.
- Whisk and cook about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Slowly pour in milk whisking constantly to prevent lumps from forming.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and let simmer until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.
- Season sauce with nutmeg, salt and pepper and stir in both parmesan and marinara.
- Combine ground beef and ricotta mixture and begin stuffing into shells.
- Place stuffed shells into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish and pour sauce over the top evenly.
- Sprinkle with mozzarella and bake 35 to 40 minutes, until golden and bubbly.
- Let rest 5 minutes before serving and garnish with fresh parsley.
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