Take-out Tuesday, St. Patrick’s Stuffed Shells
So now that Valentine’s Day fun is over until next year,
Lets think about Mardi Gras and St. Patrick’s Day!
It’s fun to coordinate your food to the different holidays,
you know Red and Green Recipes for the December holidays,
Red and White Recipes for Valentine’s Day…
How about a Green and Gold Recipe for St. Patrick’s Day!
Pasta shells stuffed with butternut squash,
creamy spinach, and Italian sausage
This recipe isn’t hard, can be made ahead of time,
a delightful change from traditional pasta with marinara sauce
Roasted garlic gives it depth of flavor,
you definitely don’t want to skip this ingredient!
Put your garlic in the oven and let it roast at 400 for 1 hour
while you are getting everything else going
[or do this ahead and keep it in your fridge]
Buy prepared cubed butternut squash if you can,
cubing your own squash is pretty labor intensive
Put the squash cubes on a foil lined baking sheet
Toss it with olive oil and salt & pepper
roast it at 400 for 30-35 minutes
until it is soft and starting to brown
Once squash is cooked, puree it with an immersion blender
[or use a regular blender, mixer or food processor]
While squash and garlic are roasting,
brown the Italian sausage and drain on paper towels
Saute chopped onion in a scant amount of the sausage drippings
For the spinach ricotta mixture,
I used 1 box of frozen chopped spinach
and 1 box of Stouffer’s Creamed Spinach
and 1 cup of ricotta cheese
You can use 2 boxes of regular chopped spinach
and 2 cups ricotta cheese if you prefer
Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan
and salt & pepper
Add sauteed onions, roasted garlic and sausage to pureed squash
Combine with spinach mixture
Cook your shells a little less than al dente…
You want to undercook the shells
so they will hold their shape when you stuff them
They will finish cooking when your dish bakes
In a cooking oil sprayed 9″ x 13″baking dish,
drizzle a little 1/2 and 1/2 cream,about 1/8 -1/4 cup
Put your stuffed shells on top of the cream
in the bottom of the baking dish as you fill them
Sprinkle them liberally with finely grated Parmesan cheese
At this point you can cover the dish and refrigerate up to 24 hours
Bake loosely covered at 325 for 45-60 minutes
Melt butter in a small sauce pan and add sage leaves
Let it get nice and bubbly
add lemon juice and heat~
Pour hot sage sauce over cooked shells in baking dish before serving
This is pretty much a one dish meal,
of course some crusty bread is always great on the side~
Garnish with some more shaved Parmesan too if you’d like~
Sausage, Spinach and Butternut Squash Stuffed Shells with Sage Butter
Ingredients
- 1 head fresh garlic
- 1 medium sweet onion diced
- 2 links Italian sausage
- 4-5 cups butternut squash cubes
- 1 box of Stouffer’s Creamed Spinach cooked*
- 1 box frozen chopped spinach cooked, drained, and squeeze dried
- 1 cup part skim ricotta
- 4 oz grated Parmesan cheese divided
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
- 1/4 cup 1/2 n 1/2 cream
- 1 box jumbo pasta shells
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 10 fresh sage leaves
- 2 T fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Cut off the top of garlic head and place on a square of foil. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, wrap up and roast at 400 for 1 hour.
- Put squash cubes on a foil lined baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season. Place pan in oven with garlic and roast for 30-35 minutes.
- Put squash cubes in a large bowl and puree with an immersion blender. Set aside.
- Brown sausage and drain on paper towels.
- Cook onion in scant amount of sausage drippings until translucent.
- Add onion and sausage to squash puree.
- Squeeze roasted garlic head into squash mixture.
- Combine spinach, ricotta and 3 oz. Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add to squash mix and stir gently to combine.
- Cook pasta shells until just starting to soften, put not completely done. Drain.
- Spray a 9 x 13″ baking dish with cooking oil spray and drizzle just a little cream in bottom of pan, just to add a little moisture.
- Stuff pasta shells with squash mix and place tightly in pan. Sprinkle remaining 1 oz. Parmesan over all. Cover with foil and refrigerate up to 24 hours.
- Loosen foil before baking so dish is lightly covered and bake at 325 for 45-60 minutes until hot. Melt butter in a small sauce pan and add sage leaves. Cook 3-4 minutes and add lemon juice. Cook 1-2 minutes longer and then pour butter sauce over cooked pasta shells and then serve. Makes 8 servings
Notes
So worth making!
I will be joining these fabulous parties and blogs:
Sundays on Silverado/ Love Your Creativity
What’s for Dinner/ Between Naps on the Porch
All About Home/ Common Ground & Follow the Yellow Brick Home
Oh My Heartsie Girl / Turn About Tuesday
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I never used creamed spinach with my ricotta mixture. I am definitely going to give it a try. thanks for the recipe Jenna.
Thanks Bernadette, if you use creamed spinach you don’t need as much ricotta. This recipe isn’t hard but it does take a while to put together, but the flavor is worth it!
This sounds really good Jenna, think I might whip some up for my lunches:@)
Thanks Lynn, lots of wonderful flavors
What a lovely recipe Jenna! Love those big shells!
Thank you Dorothy!
Ummm . . . this looks amazing yet I’m frustrated because I’ve had trouble finding the Stouffer’s creamed spinach lately. I looked for it at Christmas. (supply chain issues? – ha). Also, you’ve reminded me my immersion blender broke and Williams Sonoma won’t stand behind it. I have to contact All-Clad myself. – P. I. T. N. pain in the neck. – but alas, I won’t give up. This looks too good. Thanks for the recipe and inspiration to get my kitchen in order.
You don’t have to use creamed spinach, I used it because I happened to have some, regular chopped spinach works just fine…sorry about your immersion blender, such a handy kitchen tool!
Jenna, this pasta dish looks and sounds amazing! I’m definitely adding this to my recipe file. Thanks so much for sharing! Enjoy your day!
Thank you Shannon, it takes a while to assemble but so worth it!
Jenna, pasta, butternut squash, and Italian sausage are winners with me. This looks so delicious, wish I had all the ingredients for tonight’s dinner. Thank you for sharing and Happy Tuesday!
Thank you Pam 🙂
This sounds absolutely delicious Jenna. This definitely will be for a special occasion here. Pinned!
Thank you Emily, it’s easy to make but does take a while to assemble, but oh so worth it!
This looks so good, but a little labor intensive. How long does it take you to prepare this dish? I’m definitely pinning it for when I have more energy to cook because this dish has so many things in it that I love!
It isn’t hard, but it does take 30-40 minutes to assemble. You can roast the garlic and butternut squash and refrigerate for a day or two to save time there. You could also cook the sausage and onion and refrigerate. Then all you’d have to do is combine it all with the spinach ricotta mix and cook and fill the shells
I love all the different ingredients in this dish!
Rachelle
Thanks Rachelle, it’s a yummy combo!
What a beautiful dish and I bet it tastes as good as it looks!
Thank you Linda, it’s a delicious combo 🙂
Yummy Jenna! I love all the ingredients. The time saving tips are good to stretch out the prep time.
Thank you Bonnie, yes, very yummy!
Looks super yummy Jenna! We love all the ingredients here, especially butternut squash. ♥
Thank you Mary, the squash, spinach and sausage play nicely together!
You have me at sage butter and butternut squash! I would love some of these stuffed shells for my dinner!
Thank you Angie 🙂
This sounds wonderful, Jenna! I agree that buying prepared squash saves time. What a great idea for St. Patrick’s Day meal. 🍀
Thank so much Kitty, yes squash is so hard to cut up!
This sounds delicious! Pinning and printing! I have been at my sister’s taking care of her since she had back surgery and am way behind in my reading. Going to get caught up today and will be putting away the rest of “winter decor”, even though we just got 2-4 inches of snow, Lol. I am ready to put out some St. Patrick decorations. Thanks Jenna.
Aren’t you a sweet sister! I hope you enjoy the stuffed shells, it’s a yummy combo. Oh goodness, more snow, I am so tired of winter!