The Shells pre-oven. They could easily be made vegetarian by leaving out the sausage.
Lately my goal has been to up the health and nutritional value of the food I make. Stuffed shells sounded like a good way to use some of the kale and chard in the garden, and to put a little bit more of an autumnal twist on the dish, I made a sauce with butternut squash instead of the usual tomato sauce.
We used Kale and Swiss Chard in the salad as well as cherry tomatoes all from the garden.
This was made for a Monday night dinner, though there are several steps to making it. If I was really taking my time, I would have made the sauce better by roasting some tomatoes with the butternut squash and added them along with some cream to the blender. Oh, and roasted garlic. Yummy, roasted garlic, tomato and butternut squash sauce with cream… that will be in a post for another dish. Soup anyone?
Makayla made a really fresh salad with greens from the garden…
Ingredients:
1 small butternut squash. You will only need about a cup of cooked squash however. You will have leftover, soup perhaps?
1/2 pound of sage sausage
1/2 cup of finely chopped Swiss Chard
1/2 cup of finely chopped Kale
1 cup of ricotta cheese.
10 jumbo shells
1/2 jar of vodka sauce. I used Bertoli brand
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
olive oil spray
Salt and pepper to taste
Shredded parmesan cheese to garnish
Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Cut the butternut squash in half, scooping out the seeds and stringy guts.
Spray a cookie sheet with olive oil. Coat the inside of the butternut squash with olive oil. Place both sides face down and bake for about 45 minutes until the squash is soft and you can easily scoop out the flesh with a spoon.
Boil water and cook shells per the directions on the package. I left mine firm, they will finish cooking while baking in the oven. Drain them and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, brown the sausage in a skillet. Add the finely chopped chard and kale, sauteing till just wilted. Place the sausage and greens mixture in a mixing bowl. Add the ricotta cheese, mixing all ingredients together thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.
When squash is cooked through, scoop out 1 cup worth of the flesh into a blender or food processor. Add vodka sauce and pulse till smooth. For a thinner sauce, you can also add some chicken broth to the blender.
Spoon a little bit of sauce on the bottom of an oven safe dish, spreading it evenly to coat the bottom of the dish. Take each shell, and with a spoon and your fingers, stuff each with about 2 tbsp or so of the filling, then place each one at the bottom of the dish stuffed sides up. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top. Cover and place into the oven for about 15 minutes. I turned the temperature down to 375 degrees to bake the shells. Uncover the shells for the last 5 minutes of baking.
Heat the sauce up in a saucepan over medium heat or in the microwave till hot. spoon a bed of sauce onto the plate, place shells on the bed of sauce, I placed a dollop of the sauce on top of the shells, and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Yummy fall comfort food!
Be creative and stay inspired!
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