Pasta is my favourite thing in the whole world - nothing else even comes close. So when I see pasta that’s super sized I have to say it excites me. Until tonight I’d never actually stuffed giant pasta shells myself, which may come as a shock, but it’s not something I ate growing up. I’m not sure if it’s a regional dish or if it’s a modern Italian trend (feel free to tell me the answer) but I’ve seen so many delicious photos of them on Instagram that I just had to give it a go. 

For my recipe I decided to use ricotta, button mushrooms and rosemary for the stuffing. The flavours work really well together, especially when the sharp tomato sauce cuts through that rich creaminess. I encourage everyone to give this dish a go and as with most of my recipes, you can change up the ingredients if you like. It’s also a really easy recipe and a good alternative to lasagne or cannelloni as there’s a lot less to do.

Stuffed pasta shells - serves four

Ingredients 

250g large pasta shells

300g ricotta cheese

20 button mushrooms

Two sprigs of rosemary

Two tins of tomatoes

One onion

Two cloves of garlic

One chicken or vegetable stock cube

Olive oil

Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper

Method

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees and pop a large saucepan of salted water on a hot hob.

Wash and finely slice your mushrooms. Throw them in a hot oiled frying pan with the leaves from two sprigs of rosemary. To remove the leaves just nip the stalk and run your fingers upwards against the direction of the leaves.

After about three minutes spoon the mixture into a bowl to rest.

Once your water is boiling, pop in your pasta and stir. Now onto your tomato sauce. Finely chop your onion and garlic and add to olive oil in a pan. Stir and after two minutes add two tins of chopped tomatoes and crumble in a stock cube. You can leave this to bubble away while you get on with the rest of the dish. 

When your pasta shells are al dente, drain and rinse with cold water. By this stage your mushroom mixture will have cooled down and you can pour it back onto your chopping board to finely chop it. Put it back into the bowl and mix thoroughly with your beautifully creamy ricotta. 

Your pasta sauce will no be ready to use. If you’d prefer to have it without any texture, pour into a blender or use a stick blender to blitz it. Take a casserole dish and spoon a thin layer of the tomato sauce into the bottom. Now start stuffing your shells. Take a teaspoon and fill each shell with the ricotta mixture and put into the dish. Finish with a lovely layer of tomato sauce and a generous grating of parmesan cheese and black pepper.

Outcome 

Yum, yum yum. I know it’s getting colder back in England and to be honest it’s not feeling that hot over here in New Zealand, so I think this is a universally perfect option for dinner at the moment. Add a lovely balsamic dressed salad with juice cherry tomatoes and avocado and you’ve got the perfect weekend indulgence.

Read the original on: Jennie Eats Italy