Three-cheese stuffed shells, with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes

Sometimes you need real comfort food. Sometimes you want more than Kraft Dinner can give you. Sometimes you want to spend $18 on cheese.

This is the scrumptious recipe that fulfills all those desires and more. It’s my go-to for cold nights, impressing friends, and… well, just for my own enjoyment. These pasta shells are overflowing with ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella, and then baked in lots of tomato sauce. Melty and hearty is the name of the game.

The recipe is surprisingly easy for how fancy it looks. I mean, it’s essentially little lasagna bites (and who can say no to that?).

This weekend was the first time I used my home-grown basil! It was tender and really flavourful. It’s also growing like crazy, so my apartment will be overflowing with caprese salad this summer.

The shells are super filling. Ricotta has lots of protein, so they’ll keep you full all day long. If you’re serving them for dinner, 3 or 4 shells per person is plenty. They also make great appetizers served individually! I serve them as apps on my little slate plates; atop a schmear of tomato sauce, garnished with fresh basil and parmesan.

Try these out to ring in June! You won’t walk away hungry.

• Servings: 5 for dinner, 16 for appetizers
• Time: 1hr
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Recipe adapted from Fork Knife Swoon 

Ingredients

• 16 large pasta shells
• 1 tbsp. sunflower or grapeseed oil
• 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 cups fresh spinach, rough chopped into strips
• 3/4 cup sundried tomatoes, rough chopped
• 12 oz. (325mL) ricotta cheese (light or full-fat)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 cup grated or shredded parmesan cheese, plus 2 tbsp. for serving
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp. fresh basil, rough chopped into strips
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. chilli flakes
• 1 large jar of marinara sauce (I use garlicky Ragu)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cook the pasta until al dente in a large pot, according to package directions. Make sure to cook a few extras in case some break during cooking. Drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat the grapeseed oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the garlic and cook until it begins to brown, about a minute or two. Add the spinach and sundried tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the leaves begin to wilt but are still bright green. Remove from the heat and let cool.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the spinach-tomato mix, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, egg, basil and salt and pepper until thoroughly combined. It should have a smooth and even texture.
4. Pour the marinara sauce into the bottom of a shallow 8×8 baking dish. Stuff each pasta shell with a generous amount of the spinach and ricotta mixture, and place in the dish.
5. Bake covered with aluminum foil for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the top begins to brown and the sauce begins the bubble, another 10-15 minutes.
6. Serve warm, topped with the reserved 2 tsbp. of parmesan.