When you crave comfort food, it's likely you'll want a big ol' bowl of pasta and this spinach and ricotta stuffed pasta shell recipe will be exactly the food you want - especially when it's raining outside. We loved stuffed pasta that's then baked in the oven - it's the ultimate meal when you don't feel like simmering a sauce over the hob for hours.
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Yields:
4 serving(s)
Prep Time:
25 mins
Cook Time:
1 hr 30 mins
Total Time:
1 hr 55 mins
Cal/Serv:
600
Ingredients
1
red onion, roughly chopped
2
garlic cloves, crushed
1
celery stick, roughly chopped
500g
tomatoes, roughly chopped
2Tbsp.
olive oil
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
2Tbsp.
balsamic vinegar
1tsp.
caster sugar
large handful roughly chopped basil
250g
large pasta shells, we used conchiglioni
200g
spinach
250g
ricotta
100g
cream cheese
1tsp.
nutmeg
1
egg
50g
Parmesan
Directions
Step 1
Start by making the tomato sauce, preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan) mark 6. Toss together onion, garlic, celery, fresh tomatoes with olive oil and plenty of seasoning in a large roasting tray, and roast for 30min.
Step 2
Scrape the roasted vegetables into a blender and whiz until smooth. Transfer to a large saucepan and mix together with chopped tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, sugar and most of the basil. Bring to the boil, turn down and simmer for 15min.
Step 3
Meanwhile, bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil; cook the pasta for 5-7min until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water to cool. Put the spinach in a large colander and pour over a kettle full of just boiled water. Leave until cool enough to handle. Lifting up handfuls at a time, firmly squeeze out any liquid from the wilted spinach. Chop the spinach and transfer to a large bowl.
Step 4
Stir the ricotta, Philadelphia, egg, nutmeg and half of the Parmesan into the spinach; season to taste.
Step 5
Pour the tomato sauce into a shallow 2.3 litre ovenproof dish. Divide the cheese mixture among the cooled pasta shells, being careful not to break them. Lay them, in a single layer, into the tomato sauce. Dust with remaining cheese.
Step 6
Cover with foil and return to oven; cook for 30min, covered, before removing foil and cooking for a further 15min.
GH TIPS:
Stir cooked ham and chargrilled artichoke hearts into the ricotta mixture instead of spinach for a twist on this Italian supper. To make it speedier, use a shop-bought tomato sauce.
Freeze ahead: prepare up to end of step 5, then cover in foil or clingfilm and freeze. Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan) mark 6, cook covered for 45min before removing foil and cooking for 15min more. Serve immediately.
Our one-pan butter chicken farfalle recipe is one of our favourites right now - comforting and hearty. Perfect if you're looking for something a little bit different.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
