As most of you know by now, I rarely follow a recipe to the letter. I get inspired and then sometimes.. creative. In this case, I pretty much stayed in line and I'm sure you will enjoy this dish as much as I do.
4 large servings will require the following ingredients:
250 grams of pasta shells
300 grams of fresh ricotta
300 grams of frozen spinach
1/2 tablespoon nutmeg
150 grams of grated Parmigiano cheese
Tomato sauce, around 450 grams. It can be more if you prefer it juicier
Cooking creme, around 300 ml
Olive oil, black pepper, garlic powder, dried herbs (can be fresh from your garden or window sill), a few fresh basil leaves, and salt to taste
I usually start with the filling. Cook the spinach and drain it from as much liquid as possible. While the spinach is cooling, cook the pasta. Put water and add salt to it. When it starts boiling, add the pasta shells for a little less than the recommended cooking time. In my case, the package states 12 minutes so I remove my pot from the heat in about 9 minutes, drain the pasta and let it cool. Make sure you separate the shells when they are still hot. It will become difficult at a later stage. Meanwhile, the spinach has cooled. Chop and mix it with the ricotta, my homemade ricotta recipe here, and 2/3 of the grated cheese. It is recommended to use Parmigiano but you can use other types of cheeses as well. You can also reduce the amount of this ingredient if you don't like it as cheesy. Add some salt, nutmeg, and pepper to your liking.
Because I use my mom's homemade tomato sauce, I do not have to prepare one from scratch. I just add my hers and some garlic powder to it and stir well for 1-2 minutes. I also use cooking creme to avoid making a white or Béchamel sauce from scratch. You can find my easy white creamy sauce recipe here. I will be sharing mom's tomato sauce recipe at a later stage.
Now let's put it all together! While your oven is being preheated to 200 degrees celsius, grease your dish with some olive oil, then add tomato sauce and some cooking creme to cover the bottom of your oven dish. Fill each pasta shell with the ricotta mix and place the conchiglie in the dish. When all pasta shells are placed, add some more cooking creme on top. Use the rest of the tomato sauce to cover it all. Add the remaining grated cheese. You can mix cheeses on top for additional flavors.
The meal should be done in about 25 minutes or when the top starts getting a darker golden color. Serve immediately with basil leaves on the side of the plates for decoration and taste. You can also add more cheese if you want. To note, you use the same filling to make baked cannelloni too.
Bon appétit!
