I pulled down my old posting for ricotta cheese stuffed shells and decided to redo the posting and revisit the recipe to share with you.
Using both a homemade sauce and ricotta cheese, this Meatless Monday recipe is pure comfort food and will make you forget about meat. It may seem like this would be hard to make, but you’ll be surprised just how easy it is to make stuffed shells.
Here, let me show you how I make the ricotta cheese stuffed shells:
Add the olive oil, herbs, and garlic to a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir and warm until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add in tomato paste and allow it to brown. Pour in diced tomatoes and juice as well as the tomato sauce. Stir and season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer, covered, on low for at least 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Heavily salt a pot of water and cook pasta shells per package instructions. Drain well and allow the shells to cool enough to touch.
In a medium bowl, combine, ricotta, parmesan, and parsley. Mix well with a fork or whisk.
Pour about ½ of the sauce into a 2-quart, 2-inch deep baking dish. Use a spoon, if needed, to ensure the bottom of the dish is completely covered with sauce.
Spoon 1 tablespoon of the cheese mixture into each pasta shell.
Close up the shell and arrange them, seam side up, in one prepared dish. Repeat until all of the cheese mixture is gone.
You may have extra shells if there were no fails during cooking and draining.
Spoon the remaining sauce over the shells. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and starting to brown.
Allow the shells to cool about 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh basil and extra cheese if desired.
Sorry, here I go again…
You MUST make your own cheese. I cannot stress how good it is.
There are only 4 ingredients.
Yes, 4 ingredients.
YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT!
Once you make your own ricotta, you will never buy it from the store again. I haven’t.
(Insert eye roll here)
Ricotta Cheese Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 15 ounce canned tomato sauce
- 15 ounce canned diced tomatoes
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 1 cup fresh ricotta cheese
- ½ cup parmesan cheese grated, + extra for serving
- 1 teaspoon fresh parsley chopped
- ½ pound jumbo pasta shells about 15 shells (add a few extra in case some split)
- Kosher salt for pasta water
- Basil julienned for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Add the olive oil, herbs, and garlic to a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir and warm until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add in tomato paste and allow it to brown. Pour in diced tomatoes and juice as well as the tomato sauce. Stir and season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on low for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Heavily salt a pot of water and cook pasta shells per package instructions. Drain well and allow the shells to cool to touch.
- In a medium bowl, combine, ricotta, parmesan, and parsley. Mix well with a fork or whisk.
- Pour about ½ of the sauce mixture into a 2-quart, 2-inch deep baking dish. Use a spoon, if needed, to ensure the bottom of the dish is completely covered with sauce.
- Spoon 1 tablespoon of the cheese mixture into each pasta shell. Arrange the stuffed shells, seam side up, in one prepared dish. Repeat until all of the cheese mixture is gone. (You may have extra shells if there were no fails during cooking and draining). Pour the remaining sauce over the shells.
- Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until cheese is melting and starting to brown.
- Allow the shells to cool about 5 minutes before serving.
- Garnish with fresh basil and extra cheese if desired.
Anna Buckley says
Another delicious and simple meatless dish…yum! I had no idea it was so easy to make ricotta! I will try this as I use so much of the stuff in my Orange Ricotta and Berry Tart http://annabuckley.com/2015/01/16/orange-ricotta-and-berry-tart/
The Mountain Kitchen says
Anna, if you ever make it yourself you will never buy it again! I would use lemon juice instead of white wine vinegar for a dessert, but that is personal preference only. 😉
Annie says
This looks soooooooo good! I actually bought everything to make ricotta yesterday – you are totally right – store bought is just not an option once you make it at home.
The Mountain Kitchen says
I smell a blog posting from you Annie… 🙂
Cheryl "Cheffie Cooks" Wiser says
CAN NEVER GO WRONG WITH ANY PASTA…Love the stuff…I know it is the half-Italian in me, that’s true. Have a great week!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Thanks, Cheryl. Hope you have a great week also.
Dana @ IveGotCake says
Mmmm!!
That first picture with the mountains in the background? Stunning!!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Thanks girl. Home Sweet MOUNTAIN Home! Wouldn’t live anywhere else.