On a trip to Naples, Italy, in 2017, our hotel gave us a bag of local pasta product. In my little backpack, I managed to pack that big bag of pasta shell and hauled it all the way through Italy and France, hoping that we may have had an opportunity to use it during our travel, but that opportunity never came. In March 2018, I happened to come across vegetables sales at our farmers market, 10 Baht a bag! What a bargain!
Ingredients
- 14 jumbo pasta shells
- 1 pack of spinach or 3 cups of cooked spinach
- 1 cup fresh Basil, choppd
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 12oz or 350g of Ricotta Cheese
- 1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 large egg
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 cups Marinara Sauce
How to
Pre-Heat oven to 190C or 250F
In a saucepan, on medium heat, add 2 tbs of olive oil, add garlic and spinach. Cook until spinach has wilted, add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and let cool.
Cook Pasta to al-dante according to package instruction. Once cooked, drain and set aside.
In a bowl, add 3/4 cup Basil, 1 egg, ricotta, mozzarella and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese with the cooled spinach. Mix well.
Stuffed the spinach/cheese mixture into the cooked shell.
In a baking pan, put 1 cup of marinara sauce at the bottom, and place the stuffed shells, with the opening facing up. Top with the rest of the Marinara sauce and sprinkle the rest of Parmesan Cheese on top. Season with additional salt and pepper.
Cover with aluminium Foil.
Bake for 20-25 minutes covered and Bake for 10 minutes more- uncovered to get a nice crust on the cheese.
Serve hot with refreshing salad and a piece of crusty bread to soak up the sauce!
Serve 6.