Stuffed Shells

The picture isn't much to look at, but these turned out FABULOUS! I am really pleased with how this recipe turned out. It's a bit tedious to stuff each of the shells but it's not so bad if you have someone helping.

Recipe:

STUFFED JUMBO PASTA SHELLS

Sauce and meat as with spaghetti CHEESE FILLING: 2 lbs. ricotta or cottage cheese 1/2 lb. Mozzarella cheese, grated 2 eggs 1/2 c. Parmesan, grated 1 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 1 tsp. parsley Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pasta shells. Bring water to boil and then add pasta, boil pasta approximately 15 minutes. Prepare cheese filling. Beat eggs; add ricotta, Mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese; mix in seasonings. Using a large casserole dish, layer sauce, meat, and pasta shells which are stuffed with the cheese filling. Bake 45 minutes.

NOTES:

• To cook the ground beef: I added crushed red pepper, salt and pepper to the beef.
• I used cottage cheese because I find ricotta to dry out the dish too much (prior experience with lasagne)
• 2lbs of cottage cheese would have been way too much. 1.5 lbs was too much when I made the recipe. (consider cutting cheese stuffing recipe in half)
• To stuff the shells, lay out a piece of wax paper and put all the shells on them right after straining to prevent them from sticking together and ripping.
  
• Instead of 45 minutes, I baked it for 45 minutes, covered, and then 10 minutes uncovered.