Stuffed Shells

Ingredients

  • 1 12-ounce package jumbo shells uncooked
  • 32 ounces ricotta cheese
  • 8 ounces mozzarella cheese shredded
  • 3 ounces Muenster cheese shredded
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • rounded ¼ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
  • 3 cups (about 26 ounces) pasta sauce

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Cook pasta for 10 minutes, then drain.
  2. Meanwhile, in medium bowl, stir together cheeses, eggs, parsley, salt, and pepper. Measure about 8.75 ounces of cheese to fill the shells, and reserve the rest for the top.
  3. In 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish, spread ½ cup pasta sauce.
  4. Fill each cooked shell with about 1½ level tablespoons cheese mixture. We used our purple 1-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop rounded balls of the cheese mixture (do not level off), which worked very well to fill the shells.
  5. Layer one-half filled shells in baking dish. Spread half of the remaining sauce over the shells.
  6. Layer remaining filled shells over sauce. Spread remaining sauce over shells, and sprinkle with reserved cheese.
  7. We baked the shells for 35 minutes on rack 2, uncovered.

Notes

26 Nov. 2022: We made the shells according to the Ronzoni package directions, with the adjustments described above. Next time we may try our larger glass baking dish so we can make just one layer of shells, and we may bake it a few minutes longer.

20 Jan. 2023: Today we used 8 ounces of fresh mozzarella cheese and 4 ounces of Muenster. We used about 9.05 ounces of this shredded cheese mixture to mix into the ricotta, and saved the rest for the top. We baked it in two dishes: 13 x 9 x 2 and 9 x 9 glass dishes so we could bake them in one layer. Baked 35 minutes at 375°F on rack 2. We used about 35 ounces of sauce but could use a little less. Fresh mozzarella worked out well. Galbani ricotta seemed wet, but baked up fine.