Stuffed Shells

I have had ricotta cheese in my fridge for a while now with intentions of making stuffed shells but I kept on forgetting to get big shells at the grocery store.I finally added it to my list this week so that I wouldn't forget. This is my first time making them and I was surprised with how easy it was. I used jarred pasta sauce just because I was short on time. But this could also be made with a homemade tomato pasta sauce. This is an easy meal that you can make ahead of time and place it in the fridge and cook it when ready, or you can whip it up fairly quickly.

Ingredients: 

1-15oz. container ricotta cheese

1 egg, beaten

1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese 

25-30 dried pasta shells

optional:

1 bunch of chives, minced

fresh parsley, chopped 

 

 

 

Directions: 

Cook pasta according to directions until al-dente. Don't over cook them or they will fall apart when trying to fill them. Drain and let cool long enough to handle in your hands. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

To make the filling mix the ricotta cheese with the egg and salt in a small bowl. Once combined add the mozzarella cheese.  

Get out a 9x13" casserole dish. place 1/3 of the sauce on the bottom of the dish. Fill the shells with the ricotta mixture and place in the casserole dish with the seam up as shown below. Once you have filled the bottom of the pan with stuffed shells, pour the rest of the pasta sauce on the top of the shells and cover with tin foil. Bake in the oven on the middle rack for 30 mins. Optional: If you would like some melted cheese on top, add mozzarella cheese at this point and cook for about another 5 minutes with the tin foil off.

Serves: 4-6