Cheesy Stuffed Shells
I love cheese! I don’t care if it’s hard, soft, or slices. It could be brie, gouda or feta, I love them all. I’ll have it plain right out of the fridge, melted on a sandwich or crumbled over salads. But one of my favorite ways to enjoy cheese is in a pasta dish. It doesn’t matter if it’s lasagna or mac & cheese, if there’s pasta and creamy, gooey, melted cheese, I’m a happy camper… and so are my boys.
So, you can understand my excitement when I was invited to a cheese event at Melissa’s Produce last week. I know it sounds like a weird combination, cheese and produce, but when you think about it, the two actually go together perfectly. After all a cheese board is rarely just cheese and crackers. Today, people tend to add all sorts of fruits, vegetables, nuts and jams to their boards. And there’s no better place to get fruits and veggies than Melissa’s.
But I’m not the only one who thinks so. Chef Debbi Dubbs told us she only uses Melissa’s Produce when she teaches her classes or shoots photos for her cookbooks. I can understand why. They’re produce is delicious. I use it every chance I get. So, the fact that Dubbs includes some of Melissa’s Produce in these cheesy shells make me even happier.
That’s right, there isn’t just cheese stuffed inside these shells, there’s also broccoli and pine nuts. I know that may seem like an odd choice in a baked pasta dish, but those nuts and veggies not only add depth of flavor, they make this meal even heartier. If you prefer your shells stuffed with only cheese though, you can easily leave out the veggies and nuts. I omitted the nuts because Hubs is allergic, but included the broccoli because everyone in my family loves it. I only made one mistake: I didn’t chop the broccoli small enough. It should be finely chopped so it fits into the shells easily. But even with the bigger bites of broccoli, this dish is still a worthy one.
This pasta dish is a great example of what delicious cooking has become. Baked pasta dishes used to be tomato sauce, pasta, cheese and maybe meat. But now chefs are adding nuts and other vegetables like carrots or peas. While I love a good cheesy, meaty pasta dish, like Chef Debbi, I, too, have started adding more vegetables. As I said earlier, they add a depth of flavor and make these baked pastas an even more comforting choice on a chilly winter’s evening.
Ingredients
- 1 (12 ounce) box large pasta shells
- 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, grated
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- 1/4 pound Parmesan, grated, plus a 1/2 cup for the top
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup broccoli, cooked and finely chopped
- 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
- 1 (24 ounce) jar of tomato sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Cook the shells according to the directions, drain and rinse under cold water and set aside.
- Mix together the mozzarella, ricotta and 1/4 pound of Parmesan in a large bowl. Add 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Stir in the eggs until combined. Fold in the broccoli and pine nuts until combined.
- Spread half the tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
- Stuff the cooked shells with the cheese mixture and place them, one by one, in the pan nestling the shells together. Cover with the remaining tomato sauce and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan. Cover with tin foil and bake for about 35 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes until golden. Serve.
Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. Melissa’s Produce provided me with the cookbook and produce for recipe testing. As always, any opinion expressed is my own and is not influenced in any way by the manufacturer/PR firm as I only review products that I have personally tested and endorse.
