re: Stuffed Pasta Shells (photos - long post)

I was unhappy with the size of my sautéed spinach, so eventually, I cut it up with my kitchen shears. I should have chopped it before the sauté, but cutting it into smaller pieces in the bowl as it cooled worked fine.

I wanted the flavor of green onion I my meat filling, so I chopped 4 green onions and added them to the mixture in the bowl.







Then, after cutting the spinach up with my kitchen shears, I mixed everything together.



After the mixture had cooled, I tasted for seasoning (needed none), then added my ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese and the egg. A quick mix and the filling was ready.



Assembling and cooking the dish:


The pasta



Is cooked in salted water until a little before it reaches al dente stage. I looked at the directions on the bag and pulled it about a minute early. I didn’t want my shells to be over cooked, so I pulled them early.



After draining,



I held the shells in cool water until needed.



Next, I made my béchamel sauce by adding an equal part of AP flour to melted butter in my pan.



The flour was cooked for a couple of minutes. Béchamel is a white sauce, and the flour should not be cooked until it begins to change color, but it needs to be cooked long enough to take away the raw flour taste.



Add milk to the white roux and stir until you get a medium thick béchamel.



As my béchamel cooked, I preheated my oven to 350 degrees f and buttered the oven dish.



Then I added some béchamel and marinara sauce to the bottom of the dish and mixed them slightly.



The shells are stuffed – in this case, with a little over a tablespoon of meat stuffing and placed into the oven dish.



Then béchamel is added over each shell.



Then marinara over the shells



Then Mozzarella cheese



Then Parmesan cheese



The dish is cooked with a lid. I added 2 Tablespoons of water to the dish before it went into the oven.



The dish is cooked long enough to cook the egg in the filling and set the sauces. I cooked it for 30 minutes at 350 with a cover and then for 20 minutes with no cover.



Plating the dish:


I served the dish with buttered, poached asparagus





Fresh Market had no veal, but they did have some Pane de Casa bread in their bakery section, so I butter toasted some to go with my pasta dish.



Here are some shots of the finished dish.







The leftovers reheated nicely (in the oven at 275 degrees F, for 30 minutes, covered, with a tablespoon of water) the next day.





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