Spinach Stuffed Shells

From: Chef*Lee

On May 14, 2009

This is good!! I was happy to see that when I bought my jumbo shells that this is pretty much the same recipe that Barilla has on the back of its box for jumbo stuffed shells. The Barilla recipe adds 1/3 cup pasta water instead of the 1/2 here and it says to bake 1 cup mozzarella cheese on top of the shells--those were the only differences--both great recipes. I used a combo of parmigiano reggiano, gruyere, and asiago cheese because I had those in my fridge but not enough of one so it was a great blend!!! I used Mezzetta Napa Valley Bistro Tomato Basil sauce and that tasted great. I love the nutmeg in the mix and the salt is just right. I accidentally forgot to chop my spinach but it didn't need to be chopped, I liked the homemade look that not chopping it gave the dish. Also, I must have been really hungry because I forgot the foil and it still turned out perfect!!! The only thing that I didn't like was that a lot of the shells went to waste. Both this and the Barilla box say to boil the entire 12 oz box of shells, which is way too many. I ended up using about 20 shells for the filling and I had about 20 more shells left in the pot!! So next time, I will only boil half the box, 20 - 25 shells. Barilla also added a tip that you could also use Italian sausage instead of ground beef so I might do that next time for even more flavor!!! This looked spectacular and was easy to make, my favorite type of recipe!!! Thanks for posting!!