Pasta shells stuffed with spinach and ricotta
Pasta shells are a flour product that I go for when making dinner or a snack. Filled with filling, they can be baked with your favourite sauce or served without baking as a cold snack. Many products go well with pasta, including vegetables such as tomatoes, spinach, zucchini, eggplant and broccoli, seafood including shrimp and mussels, poultry, cheeses such as gorgonzola, ricotta and parmesan, as well as pork and beef. The selection is therefore quite large and pasta can be combined with a wide range of both vegetarian and meat products. One such combination that works perfectly in pasta is spinach and cheese, all baked in tomato sauce.
I used spinach and cheese as a filling to fill conchiglioni pasta shells. Before filling the shells with the filling, I boiled them for about 10 minutes, drained them of the water and let them cool. In the meantime, I made a quick filling in which I combined defrosted spinach puree with ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese and spices. I did not over-fry the spinach because there is no need to do so. If I had used fresh spinach leaves, the spinach leaves would have to be fried before adding them to the filling. I filled each pasta shell thoroughly with the filling and placed it on a simple tomato sauce with onion and oregano. I baked the whole thing for about 30 minutes and served it sprinkled with freshly chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese. Pasta shells prepared in this way are a great idea for dinner or lunch. I encourage you to try the recipe below for pasta shells stuffed with spinach and ricotta, and I hope you enjoy them.
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Ingredients for pasta shells stuffed with spinach and ricotta.
Tomato sauce:
- 800 ml tomato passata
- 2 big cloves of garlic
- 3/4 teaspoon of oregano
- 150 g onion
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
Stuffing:
- 250 g ricotta cheese
- 150 g frozen spinach puree
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
- 50 g grated parmesan cheese
Additionally:
- 20 pieces of conchiglioni pasta shells
- tablespoon of parsley
- 50 g grated parmesan cheese
How to make pasta shells stuffed with spinach and ricotta.
Put the diced onion into a pot, pour olive oil and fry for 5 minutes over a medium heat. Next, add the mashed garlic and continue frying for a few seconds. Afterwards, pour in the passata, add salt, pepper and oregano. Boil. Cover the pot with a lid and simmer the sauce over a low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
In a fairly large pot filled with water, cook the pasta shells until al dente (about 10 minutes), then place it on a plate and cool it for a while.
Combine the defrosted spinach puree with ricotta cheese, parmesan, salt and pepper. Fill each pasta shell thoroughly with the spinach and cheese filling. Spread the tomato sauce evenly in the baking dish and place the stuffed pasta shells on top. Place the dish in the oven preheated to 190 degrees Celsius for 30-35 minutes. After removing from the oven, sprinkle with grated parmesan and parsley.
Good to know when making pasta shells stuffed with spinach and ricotta.
I baked the shells in a rectangular oven-proof dish measuring 22 by 30 centimetres.
You can replace the passata with canned tomatoes or any tomato sauce.
Do you like dishes with pasta? If so, try our recipe for Pasta with sprats.
