Stuffed Pasta Shells

I came to stuffed pasta shells for the first time when I worked in Yellowknife and I built these awesome lasagna rolls. My second fam, the Lindstroms, are big on stuffed pasta shells. Like, really big. Like, I'll be helping them make hundreds of these bad boys next summer for the Wedding of the Century (aka Peeps wedding, which I can't possibly be more excited for). This is one of those recipes that I created myself after quickly perusing multiple stuffed shells recipes on the interwebz.

I didn't think to take photos until they were basically done. But don't worry, you didn't miss much.

Let's stuff!

Stuffed Pasta Shells
A-La-Michetti

Simple Tomato Sauce (quick version of my own recipe)
1 tsbp olive oil
half yellow onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic
dash of red pepper flakes
3-5 basil leaves, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
A few squirts of tomato paste (which I found in a tube, thanks to Mrs. Peeps, at the Italian Market...great for when you just need a bit!)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Saute onion in oil; once softened, add garlic and red pepper flakes. Add diced tomatoes and tomato paste and S&P to taste. Let simmer for as long s you can. I would normally add some marsala or red wine, but I was out and short on time. I would also typically puree this mixture but I thought why not leave it chunky?

Everything else...
1 350g package jumbo pasta shells (Italian Centre Shop has a huge variety on the cheap!)
1 pound Italian sausage meet
1 large egg
16-ounces ricotta cheese
10-ounces chopped frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry (or 10 ounces chopped fresh spinach)
3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs (or your own!)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 baking dishes (this made me enough for one full 9X13 dish and a square 8X8 that I could freeze for another night!

What to do:

1 Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta shells until al dente. Drain, rinse in cold water, and set aside.

2 Saute meat until brown, drain extra oil.

3 Beat the egg lightly in a large bowl. Mix in the ricotta, chopped spinach, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese, panko, salt, pepper, and sausage mixture. Fill each cooked pasta shell with some of the ricotta, spinach, sausage mixture.

4 Spread half the simple tomato sauce on the bottom of pan(s). Arrange the stuffed pasta shells in the dishes. Spread the remaining tomato sauce over the top of the pasta shells.

At this point you can make ahead, to freeze (up to four months) or refrigerate before cooking. (If freezing, cover with foil, then wrap with plastic wrap.)

5 Heat oven to 375°F. Cover the pans with foil and bake for 30 minutes, until hot and bubbling. Remove foil and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese, bake uncovered for 10 more minutes.

These ended up freezing really really well, both uncooked and once I cooked a tray and froze it into portions. YUM! Wedding '12, here we come!

Paired with homemade Caesar salad dressing. DANG!

On a (slightly more) personal note, we lost our floor troll/poor man's Roomba/loving cat Solo last week. We already miss him a lot, and he was around to help me make this dish, as he often did in the kitchen.

Solo Snowballs Green