Pasta & Other Things

Stuffed pasta very closely resembling the shape of ravioli can be traced all the way back to the 11th century Arab world. As Italy adopted these delicacies, stuffed pastas were as little as bite-sized cakes, like a Tortellini for example.

Conchiglioni, pronounced con – kill -YAWN – eee, is a large shell-shaped pasta, that is often served stuffed with meat or cheese beneath red sauce. Conchiglie is the smaller “seashell” pasta you often see in pasta salads and various soups. Many home cooks shy away from making stuffed pastas because they know how time consuming and labor intensive it is to make. My stuffed baked pasta shells recipe, with cheese, is easy to make but a very delicious dinner.

Ingredients

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and the pasta shells to the water. Boil the pasta shells until they are tender, but still a little firm (al dente), about 12 minutes. When pasta is done, drain the shells, run under cold water to stop the cooking process and set aside.

3. In a large bowl stir together the ricotta cheese, egg, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, and parsley.

4. Pour about 1 cup of pasta sauce into a 9×12 casserole dish.

5. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the ricotta filling into each cooked pasta shell. Place the filled shells, side by side, into the casserole dish.

6. Spoon the remaining pasta sauce on top of the shells and bake uncovered until bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Mangia – Eat!