Welcome to Cooking For One Recipes [1]! This series is designed for those of us who don’t need recipes for big meals- just enough for one person to eat without a ton of leftovers. Or, if you are feeding a large family, you can certainly alter the recipes to whatever amount of people you need!
For those of you who use Pinterest [2] I have created a board that will have all the recipes from this series. Be sure to follow it [2]!
This quick meal is Spinach and Ricotta-Stuffed Shells. It contains all the good stuff (pasta and cheese and sauce- oh my)!
It’s extremely affordable and there are not many dishes afterwards to clean – which is always nice. More time for relaxing.
Ingredients
10 jumbo pasta shells (in my town I always find these at Harris Teeter)
1 24-ounce jar marinara sauce (a little more sauce than you may need)
15-ounce container ricotta
1 cup baby spinach, chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
kosher salt and black pepper
1/4 cup grated mozzarella
Salt and pepper to taste
[5]
Directions
Set an oven rack to the highest position and heat oven to 400° F.
Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain. Set aside to cool.
Spread the marinara sauce in the bottom of a large broiler proof baking dish.
In a bowl, combine the ricotta, spinach, Parmesan and ¼ teaspoon salt & pepper. (I like spinach so I used more than the recipe calls for).
Spoon the mixture into the shells and place them on top of the sauce.
[6]
Sprinkle the shells with the mozzarella and bake until heated through, approx. 10-12 minutes.
Increase heat to broil. Broil the shells until cheese begins to brown, 2 to 5 minutes. If you leave in too long the edges will start to burn, so watch them!
I served with the leftover bunch of spinach, stems removed and sautéed on the stove for a few minutes in olive oil and garlic.
Buon appetito!
This is altered from a recipe from Real Simple [7].
- 10 jumbo pasta shells (in my town I always find these at Harris Teeter)
- 1 24-ounce jar marinara sauce (a little more sauce than you may need)
- 15-ounce container ricotta
- 1 cup baby spinach, chopped
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan
- kosher salt and black pepper
- ¼ cup grated mozzarella
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Set an oven rack to the highest position and heat oven to 400° F.
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain. Set aside to cool.
- Spread the marinara sauce in the bottom of a large broiler proof baking dish.
- In a bowl, combine the ricotta, spinach, Parmesan and ¼ teaspoon salt & pepper. (I like spinach so I used more than the recipe calls for).
- Spoon the mixture into the shells and place them on top of the sauce.
- Sprinkle the shells with the mozzarella and bake until heated through, approx. 10-12 minutes.
- Increase heat to broil. Broil the shells until cheese begins to brown, 2 to 5 minutes. If you leave in too long the edges will start to burn, so watch them!