Fat Sunday
In our house, as I suspect in most homes, Sunday is usually the one night where we take the time to cook up something soulful and delicious. We call it Fat Sunday. Well today's Fat Sunday was no different than the last one. I got busy with a nice focaccia bread, a heartwarming potato, onion, garlic, kale and cream soup and then finished off with some stuffed pasta shells.
Needless to say dinner was delicious.
With spring just around the corner I have been busy setting up for the vegetable garden and doing a lot of reading on edible wildflowers, weeds, and berries. I have also been spending some time of late developing a Honey Chia Tea Ice Cream.
I recently bought Epicure's Chia Tea blend and I am so in love with the product and its heavenly flavour, which I can't begin to describe. Add to this the product is non GMO and completely organic, let's just say it's well worth the money and will inspire you to new heights.
While I haven't made the ice cream yet, I do plan to make this a recipe this month.
Back to the stuffed pasta shells. I remember trying to stuff pasta shells about 12 years ago and they ended up being mushy and not stuffed at all. I was disheartened and frustrated and decided I would not try stuffing pasta shells again until I was good and ready. Well today I was good and ready.
The trick to making up these puppies is to not overcook the pasta before they are stuffed. Something that I missed the first time. Today I cooked the pasta just until they started to soften, then I drained them and rinsed them in cold water to stop the cooking process. This makes it so easy to work with the shells and they don't fall apart when you fill them. Here's the recipe for the filling.
Meaty pasta shell filling
1.5 lbs cooked lean ground beef
1 large onion
2 cloves elephant garlic
1/2 red pepper diced
1/2 green pepper diced
200 grams button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp thyme
1/2 tbsp basil
salt pepper to taste
750 g cottage cheese
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan
1 cup grated mozzarella
On medium heat cook meat until there is almost no pink left and then add onion, garlic, peppers, mushrooms, seasonings. Cook until onions are translucent and mushrooms are cooked through. Remove from heat and drain off any fat. Let the meat mixture cool.
While the filling is cooling line up shells in 9x13 pan. Depending on the size of box you bought you may have enough to also fill an 8x8 pan. Don't worry this recipe freezes well, and that means one less dinner you will have to make from scratch when you're in a rush.
Once the filling has cooled add the cottage cheese and freshly grated parmesan. Stuff the shells with the filling and place back in the pan. Top with homemade pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese. Place in the oven at 400 degrees until the top is bubbling, then remove and serve.
Homemade pasta sauce:
1 large can of diced tomatoes (or 1 quart home canned tomatoes)
1 tin tomato paste
a pinch of sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp celery salt
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp basil
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Enjoy!
Needless to say dinner was delicious.
With spring just around the corner I have been busy setting up for the vegetable garden and doing a lot of reading on edible wildflowers, weeds, and berries. I have also been spending some time of late developing a Honey Chia Tea Ice Cream.
I recently bought Epicure's Chia Tea blend and I am so in love with the product and its heavenly flavour, which I can't begin to describe. Add to this the product is non GMO and completely organic, let's just say it's well worth the money and will inspire you to new heights.
While I haven't made the ice cream yet, I do plan to make this a recipe this month.
Back to the stuffed pasta shells. I remember trying to stuff pasta shells about 12 years ago and they ended up being mushy and not stuffed at all. I was disheartened and frustrated and decided I would not try stuffing pasta shells again until I was good and ready. Well today I was good and ready.
The trick to making up these puppies is to not overcook the pasta before they are stuffed. Something that I missed the first time. Today I cooked the pasta just until they started to soften, then I drained them and rinsed them in cold water to stop the cooking process. This makes it so easy to work with the shells and they don't fall apart when you fill them. Here's the recipe for the filling.
Meaty pasta shell filling
1.5 lbs cooked lean ground beef
1 large onion
2 cloves elephant garlic
1/2 red pepper diced
1/2 green pepper diced
200 grams button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp thyme
1/2 tbsp basil
salt pepper to taste
750 g cottage cheese
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan
1 cup grated mozzarella
On medium heat cook meat until there is almost no pink left and then add onion, garlic, peppers, mushrooms, seasonings. Cook until onions are translucent and mushrooms are cooked through. Remove from heat and drain off any fat. Let the meat mixture cool.
While the filling is cooling line up shells in 9x13 pan. Depending on the size of box you bought you may have enough to also fill an 8x8 pan. Don't worry this recipe freezes well, and that means one less dinner you will have to make from scratch when you're in a rush.
Once the filling has cooled add the cottage cheese and freshly grated parmesan. Stuff the shells with the filling and place back in the pan. Top with homemade pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese. Place in the oven at 400 degrees until the top is bubbling, then remove and serve.
Homemade pasta sauce:
1 large can of diced tomatoes (or 1 quart home canned tomatoes)
1 tin tomato paste
a pinch of sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp celery salt
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp basil
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Put all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil on medium heat. Stir occasionally to ensure that the sauce is not sticking to the bottom of the pan, lower heat and let simmer for about 1 and a 1/2 hours to reduce and thicken the sauce. When this is achieved, the sauce is ready.
If at the end of all this you decide you would rather not have the extra work of filling pasta shells, no problem. This sauce and meat mixture works really well with any pasta and makes a great lazy-mans pasta casserole.
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