Stuffed Shells Florentine
Cheese and spinach stuffed pasta shells in a delicious spicy tomato sauce. Serve with a green salad and some crusty bread.
Ingredients
- 12-24 jumbo pasta shells
- 1 10 ounce package frozen, chopped spinach thawed and squeezed dry
- 2 cups mozzerella cheese freshly shredded
- 1 15 ounce ricotta cheese
- 3 tablespoons cottage cheese optional
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 3 green onions chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil or italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2-4 cups Arrabiata sauce I use Rao's
- 1 small can diced green chiles
Instructions
- Cook the pasta shells in boiling salted water for about 9 minutes. Drain well and set aside to cool. I like to place them on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment or paper towels to make it easier to stuff them.
- Place the Arrabiata sauce in a small sauce pan and add the green chiles. Warm the sauce over medium low heat until thoroughly heated.
- Meanwhile, place the spinach that has been drained and squeezed of all moisture ( I use paper towels for this) in a large bowl. Add the next nine ingredients (10 if using the optional cottage cheese) to the spinach and mix well.
- Fill each pasta shell with about 1/4 cup of the spinach mixture. A small ice cream/cookie scoop makes stuffing the shells so easy!
- Ladle about half of the hot arrabiata sauce in the bottom of a lightly greased baking dish. Nestle the stuffed shells into the sauce and drizzle a bit more sauce over the top of the shells. They do not need to be completely covered with the sauce. Sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese.
- Baked in a preheated 350° oven for 35-40 minutes, until bubbling and hot. The last 5 minutes of cooking you can add more mozzerella and parmesan on top (I certainly do!) Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Mangia!
Notes
The filling freezes well, so no problem if you have leftover filling.
Also, the shells that have been stuffed freeze well.