Stuffed Shells

I have already mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I have a love for Italian food. One of my recent favorite Italian meals to make is stuffed shells. To me, it ranks right up there with homemade lasagna. All that baked, cheesy goodness with pasta and a robust sauce, mamma mia, count me in!

Up until this week I've always made stuffed shells exactly the same, based off a recipe from Giada DeLaurentis. Something got into me this week, however. On Sunday night as I was surveying my fridge to see what veggies remained from my produce share, I saw that I still had a bunch of rainbow chard in the crisper drawer. Last time I made Sauteed Rainbow Chard, and while I did love the results, I wanted to do something different with the greens this time around. Then it hit me, why don't I add it to the stuffed shells?

The results were revolutionary. My husband, who was on record as being a huge fan of the original recipe for stuffed shells, informed me last night that from now on chard has to be included. The earthiness of the chard provides a welcome flavor and texture contrast to the artichokes and ground turkey in the filling. You could also substitute spinach for the chard and yield similar results.

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Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
1 box jumbo pasta shells
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground turkey
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 8 ounce package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
1 bunch rainbow or swiss chard, chopped
1 15 ounce container ricotta cheese
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons italian parsley, chopped
2 jars arrabiata sauce (I used Mario Batali)
shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, add the jumbo pasta shells and cook for 5 minutes. you want the pasta to be just under al dente since they will continue to cook in the oven. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. While the oil is heating, chop the onion and the garlic.

Add to the hot oil and saute until the onions are tender, about 3 minutes.

Add the ground turkey, salt and pepper and cook until the meat is cooked through.

While the meat is cooking, cut the chard leaves off the stems and chop.

Add to the skillet and cook until wilted, about 3-5 minutes.

Take the thawed artichoke hearts and roughly chop.

Add to the skillet and cook until heated through.

Remove from heat, place in a large bowl and let cool. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Once the meat has cooled, add the basil, parsley, ricotta, parmesan and eggs.

Stir until thoroughly mixed.

At this point you can do one of two things. I always cook one 8x8 baking dish of shells the night I cook and make one 8x8 aluminum pan to freeze for later. If you don't want to freeze half, just use a 9x11 pan instead of the 8x8 pan pictured below. Spoon a thin layer of arrabiata sauce on the bottom of the pan.

Take one of the shells and spoon the meat filling inside until it is full.

Add to the sauced pan.

Repeat, placing the shells in rows until the pan is full.

Cover completely with arrabiata sauce.

Top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
While the pasta is in the oven, assemble the pan to freeze using the same process described above if you choose to freeze half.

Cover with glad press and seal wrap and place in a gallon size ziploc bag.

Place in the freezer for up to a month. When it's time to cook the frozen meal, heat the oven to 400 degrees and cook for 40 minutes.
When the pasta is done the cheese should be browned and bubbling.

Scoop out the shells and serve.

Source: adapted from Giada DeLaurentes

Spicy Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs

I love all things Italian: food, opera, language, art, beaches, people and did I mention the food? While I have always had an affinity for Italian food, my love affiar with Italian culture skyrocketed in college when I took two years of Italian and spent a summer studying abroad in Tuscany. As a result, a lot of my cooking tends to have an Italian influence.

While spaghetti and meatballs is really more of an American Italian meal, it's still pasta and that's Italian enough for me! The thing I love most about this meal is how flavorful it is. The chipotle peppers add a spicy kick and help stretch the flavors of the tomatoes, onion and garlic without fat or filler.

The meatballs are great too even with carrots inside! In fact, if you're trying to find a way to incorporate or sneak veggies into a meal for non veggie lovers, this is a great way to start! The carrots provide moisture that the lean ground turkey naturally lacks and a touch of sweetness which is great. And bonus, you can't even taste it!

One final note before the recipe, the sauce here is chunky not thin so if you're used to a thinner tomato sauce on your spaghetti you could use an imersion blender or standard blender to puree the mixture so that you have a smoother sauce. Really, it's a preference thing here. Also, it's important to have all your meatball ingredients prepped before you start the sauce or it will cook down too much making an already thick sauce too thick. Now, on to the food!

Ingredients
Sauce
1 28 ounce can of crushed fire roasted tomatoes
1 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 T tomato paste
1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced seeds included*
1 t dried oregano
1 sprig fresh rosemary
salt to taste
handful basil leaves, hand torn in strips

Meatballs
1 pound ground turkey
3/4 cup bread crumbs (preferrably whole wheat)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 large carrot, finely grated
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 T minced fresh parsley leaves
2 t minced fresh thyme leaves
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 t salt
fresh ground black pepper to taste
whole wheat spaghetti

Instructions
1. In a 4-5 quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.
2. Add the onions and saute until translucent.
3. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant.

4. Add the chipotle peppers, tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, oregano and rosemary sprig.

5. Bring sauce to a low boil and reduce heat. Simmer for 15 minutes, allowing some moisture to cook off.
6. While the sauce is reducing, preheat the broiler and combine all the meatball ingredients into a large bowl.

7. Using your hands, mix the meatball mixture until all ingredients are incorporated and form into 1.5 inch sized meat balls.

8. Place on a greased baking sheet evenly spaced and place in the oven.

9. Broil on high for 10 minutes or until meatballs are browned and cooked through. Remove from oven.
10. While the meatballs are cooking, cook the pasta according to the package directions for al dente.**
11. When the sauce has simmered for 15 minutes, stir in the hand torn basil and remove the rosemary sprig.

12. Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer for a few minutes to allow the meatballs to absorb some of the sauce.

13. Serve over pasta. Typically, 1/2 cup of sauce and 3 meatballs per serving. Top with grated parmesan and fresh ground pepper.

Adapted from Ellie Kreger's The Food You Crave
Footnotes:
* You can use 1 or 2 peppers depending on the level of spice desired. I use 2 and include the seeds. If a milder spice is desired you can omit the seeds altogether.
** I like to cook only the amount of spaghetti needed for the night's meal so that the pasta is always fresh rather than reheated. An individual portion is typically a small handful of dried pasta, about an 1/8th of the package.

Barbeque Meatloaf

For my first recipe, I decided to start at the very beginning of my journey with food: the first meal I learned to make. Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans is my ultimate comfort food meal. It's a recipe my mother taught me as I stood next to her in our family's kitchen; I'm sure someday it'll be the first meal I teach my own daughter. 

My family has always made meatloaf in small miniature loaves rather than one large loaf so that each person gets their own. This method has led to my husband lovingly nicknaming this dish "Staci's Marvelous Meat Mounds." While I've never attempted to make this recipe into the traditional loaf, I'm sure it can be done. Feel free to do so if the thought of meatloaf in any other way is too much for you to handle.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey, or ground beef

1 small yellow onion, minced

1 cup bread crumbs

1 large egg, beaten

1 t salt

1/2 t pepper

2 8 ounce cans tomato sauce

2 T dark brown sugar

1 t worcestershire sauce

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

2. In a large bowl combine the first 6 ingredients and one of the cans of tomato sauce.

3. Using your hands, mix the meat mixture until all aspects are incorporated evenly

4. Form the mixture into 6 miniature loaves and place on a greased baking sheet

5. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

6. While the loaves are in the oven, combine the remaining three ingredients in a small bowl to make the sauce. 

7. Remove loaves from oven and top with tomato sauce and return to the oven for 10 more minutes.

8. Remove from oven and serve with your favorite sides. I recommend mashed potatoes and green beans, but that's just me.