Time: 1 hour
Feeds: 4 people
Ingredients:
- 1 jar Rao’s pasta sauce
- 1 box jumbo shells
- 1 15 oz container whole milk ricotta
- 8 oz mozzarella cheese (some for filling and some for topping)
- 4 oz parmesan cheese (some for filling and some for topping)
- 2-3 tbsp pesto
- 1 egg
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Garlic powder, to taste
Directions: Get a large pot of water boiling on the stove. Once the water is boiling, add the shells and cook to box directions. The ones I used, you cook to al dente for 9 minutes.
While the noodles are boiling, preheat the oven to 375 degrees convection and prep the filling for the shells. In a bowl, add the ricotta, 4 oz of mozzarella cheese, 2 oz parmesan cheese, pesto, egg, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Stir everything together and if you’re comfortable with it (given the egg), give it a taste and see if it could use anything else. I find that the filling can use quite a bit of salt because the ricotta can take it. Once it’s to your liking, set it aside until the noodles are done.
Once the shells have finished cooking, drain them in a colander and give them a rinse with cold water so they’re not too hot to hold while you’re filling them. In the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish, add about half of the jar of pasta sauce as a base. Then, start filling the shells one at a time with about 2 tbsp of the filling. You don’t want to overfill them but you want to make sure they’re filled all the way. I can generally fit 22 shells in the pan and this will be less than the number of shells in the box. I like to cook them all in case any of them break but you’re more than welcome to just cook what you need.
When you have all of the shells filled and into the baking dish, top each of the shells with the remaining sauce in the jar. Then sprinkle with the remaining parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. The cheese should be melted and the sauce bubbling. Set aside for 5 or so minutes to cool and then enjoy!