Stuffed Shells

I love lasagna so much I suspect I would be able to eat endless amounts of it. Sadly, being that I am karma's bitch, the Phenom doesn't much care for it. I consider stuffed shells to be more or less lasagna, sans meat. I only usually make it once a year, when the craving is too much.

First off, make a double batch of basic tomato/basil sauce. Only, used crushed tomatoes instead of diced. Set it aside to cool.

Defrost in your microwave 2 packages of chopped spinach. Put each package of defrosted spinach in a clean cloth and squeeze out as much of the water as you can.

Mix together: spinach, large container of whole milk ricotta cheese, about 1/4 cup finely grated good parm, several finely chopped garlic cloves (3 maybe?), 1/8 tsp fresh grated nutmeg, salt/pepper, 2 eggs, and 2 cups grated motz cheese. Since I had some basil left from the tomato sauce, I chopped it up and threw it in too.

Boil the shells, but don't completely cook them. Drain and cool with cold water.

Spray your pan with some cooking spray, then put a large ladle of the tomato sauce in the bottom and tilt the dish until it's thinly coated.

Fill each shell with cheese/spinach filling about the size of a golf ball. I got 26 shells stuffed with this batch of filling. (Yes, that was two pans worth.) Top each shell with a bit of the tomato sauce, then top the whole thing with grated motz cheese (I used about 4 cups to cover both pans). Then, I grated a little more parm over the top and covered with foil.

Tomorrow night, I'll pop a pan in a cold oven, and then turn the oven on to 350. After about 45 minutes, I'll remove the foil and let the cheese brown. I may turn on the broiler to speed up the browning a bit.

And, when the Chinese Red Army shows up, I'll explain Marco Polo to them.