Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Stuffed Shells

From Chef Donatella from Food Network, good comfort dish on a winter night!
12oz dried jumbo pasta shells
olive oil
1.5 lbs lean ground beef (or ground turkey would be fab)
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 (28oz) cans stewed or diced tomatoes ( i did 1 of each) dont drain!
15oz carton whole milk ricotta
1 1/3 cups grated parmesan
Heat oven to 350. Grease a large baking dish (3-4qt). Add 1 T salt to a large pot of boiling water and cook shells about 5-6 minutes till slightly tender. Drain shells and lay them out on a greased sheet of foil to prevent sticking together, and so they can cool to touch. In a large skillet cook beef in 1 T olive oil. Add 1 garlic clove. season with salt and pepper. When pink is gone, transfer to a bowl. In empty skillet, add 1 T oil and fry remaining garlic clove 20 seconds. Add undrained tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Simmer 20 minutes till reduced  and slightly thickened, breaking up any big pieces of tomato with back of spoon. Stir 1.5 cups tomatoes into beef, add ricotta and 2/3 cup parmesan. Mix and stuff shells with heaping Tablespoon in each shell. Spoon 1.5 cups tomatoes into bottom of baking dish. Layer stuffed shells over. Fill dish, then top with any remaining filling or tomatoes. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top. Bake 30 mins.

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