Festive and fun to make, this is also one of the quickest dinners in our repertoire. When it’s just us, and a batch of stuffed shells will make enough for a second meal, we keep the sauce simple and serve a separate vegetable, either sautéed, steamed, or in a salad. But if making this as a vegetarian main-dish casserole, you could add a mix of summer vegetables—Romano beans, eggplant, summer squash or zucchini, lightly sautéed with extra onion and garlic—to the sauce in place of the sausages.
Ricotta-Stuffed Shells
Jane Crosen, Maine Mapmaker’s Kitchen
3 cups Rustic Tomato Sauce (recipe follows)
1 extra-large egg
2 sweet Italian or fennel sausages (optional)
½ teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
16 to 20 jumbo pasta shells
1 to 1¼ cups shredded provolone or smoked part-skim mozzarella (preferably apple-smoked)
1⅓ to 1½ cups ricotta cheese
Make tomato sauce and let simmer. Meanwhile, prick sausage (if using) and parboil in separate pot in ½-inch of water to reduce fat; drain on paper towel. When cool, slice sausage into ⅝-inch chunks or coins and add to sauce.
For the pasta shells, bring a large pot of water to boil. Meanwhile, combine ricotta, egg, and lemon zest in separate bowl, and grate the cheese. Plop shells one at a time into boiling water and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente; then pour off hot water and cover shells with cool water.
Preheat oven to 375°. Ladle sauce into 7 x 11- or 8 x 12-inch casserole. Fill shells with ricotta mixture and set on top of sauce. (Note: Like a good Maine harbormaster, you’ll want to have all your “boats” pointing into the wind, oriented diagonally in their harbor of sauce.) Sprinkle evenly with cheese and bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until cheese is golden. Let stand a few minutes before serving.
Serves 4.
Rustic Tomato Sauce
There are plenty of “rustic” jarred sauces you can buy (for a price!), but there’s nothing as rustic—or economical—as your own kitchen, and your own garden herbs and vegetables. Actually, you can have the best of both worlds, if you have a bumper crop of plum tomatoes, by putting up batches of homemade sauce—a very nice thing to have in the freezer or on your pantry shelf.
The proportions here are scaled to a single meal, such as Ricotta-Stuffed Shells or Eggplant Parmesan—or simply add a couple of sweet and/or hot Italian sausages, parboiled and sliced in chunks or coins, with perhaps some sautéed green bell peppers, for a quick spaghetti supper for two. Any leftover sauce could be the making of a Quick Minestrone.
1 large onion, sliced into crescents
1 teaspoon marjoram
1½ Tablespoons olive oil
1½ pints (16-ounce can) Italian plum tomatoes (drain off any watery juice)
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 teaspoons oregano
½ teaspoon balsamic vinegar (optional)
2 teaspoons basil
Pinch of salt (as needed)
¼ teaspoon crushed fennel seeds (or ½ teaspoon thyme)
½ teaspoon light brown sugar
Freshly grated “party” (multicolored) pepper
To make tomato sauce, sauté onion in oil. Lower heat to moderate and add garlic, then herbs, then tomatoes, vinegar, and other seasonings. (Add sugar only if canned tomatoes taste a little sour.) Simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, so that it cooks down to a rich sauce.
Makes 3 cups.
Jane Crosen is the author, with husband Richard Washburn, of the cookbook Maine Mapmaker’s Kitchen: Creative, healthy recipes for home, camp, and afloat.
MF&L Staff at Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine.
