Comfort-in-a-Pan
Italian-American comfort food doesn’t get any more classic than a big baking dish full of cheesy baked jumbo shells stuffed with flavorful meat and kale. Baked pasta dishes are very forgiving, can be packed with healthy seasonal vegetables, savory meat, melty cheese, even easier to pull together. Roasted butternut is blended with store bought red sauce+ browned ground meat/ sausage meat, wilted kale, a layer of delicious fontina gives off a vibe of indulgence and generosity that every meal should be. Take our seasonal favorite Butternut Lasagna it’s cozy, and so delicious. And — like a lot of baked pasta recipes (looking at you, Baked Ziti, and our other easy stuffed shells Stuffed Conchiglioni) — all these recipes are our go-to pasta dishes made for a crowd because you can pop it in the oven when your guests arrive and actually mingle while it bakes.
How To Make Baked Stuffed Shells
- Cook the shells: in a big stock pot full of salted water —cook one minute short of what the box instructions say— until it’s just barely al dente. Because they’ll finish cooking in the oven, do not overcook it.
- Butternut-Marinara Sauce: roast the butternut until very soft, blend with stock, marinara until a smooth nonna-esque sauce is achieved.
- Brown the ground turkey/chicken or sausage with the onion, garlic, spices and herbs, cook until 90% cooked. Fold the lightly cooked kale and parmesan cheese. Spoon the mixture generously into each cooked shell.
- Assemble your baked ziti. Carefully spread a layer of butternut sauce. Place the stuffed shells neatly on the sauce, spoon the remaining sauce over the shells.
- Top the loaded shells with fresh cheese: shredded fontina or mozzarella—cover with foil and bake!
Ingredients
- Quality ground turkey/ chicken/ Italian sausage
- Onion
- Garlic
- Kale
- Butternut
- Marinara sauce
- Italian seasoning (dried oregano, thyme, sage)
- Spices; nutmeg/cinnamon, mild paprika, Fennel seeds, Chili flakes
- Fresh Fontina or mozzarella
- Jumbo pasta Shells
- Parmesan cheese
- honey or sugar
- chicken or vegetable stock
Stuffed Shells with Kale Turkey + Butternut Fontina Sauce
Ingredients
- 16 oz butternut, peeled chopped and roasted
- 24 oz Jar Marinana sauce
- 1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- sea salt and black pepper as needed
Filling
- 1 lb ground turkey or chicken sausage meat also works well here
- 5-6 kale leaves washed, stripped and chopped
- ½ medium onion, chopped
- 5-6 cloves garlic minced
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp mild paprika
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg or cinnamon
- 1 tsp Fennel seeds, lightly pounded
- ½-1 tsp chili flakes
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 6-8 sage leaves
- ½ tsp dried thyme leaves
- 1 tsp sugar or honey
- salt and pepper as needed
Shells
- 20-22 jumbo pasta shells
- 5-6 oz fontina cheese or mozzarella grated
- ⅓ cup parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
Butternut sauce
- To make the butternut squash sauce, preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut butternut squash into cubes, about 10–12 pieces. Add the pieces to a baking tray, brush or toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss until the pieces are evenly coated. Bake for 30 minutes, flip over squash pieces, and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until very tender. Allow to cool slightly. (Note: butternut can be roasted upto one day in advance.)
- Transfer roasted butternut squash and any oil from the baking dish into a blender. Add nutmeg and 1 cup chicken broth and blend on high until smooth. Stir in the marinara sauce add more broth and pulse a couple more times until everything its well blended. Set sauce aside.
Filling
- To make the filling, heat oil in a nonstick skillet on medium heat, then add onions. Sauté until onions start to brown. Once the onions begin to caramelize, add garlic and sauté for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Turn heat back up to medium and add turkey, salt, pepper, dried herbs, fennel, paprika, chilli flakes , and sugar. Sauté mixture until turkey/chicken is just cooked through, about 7-8 minutes. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and allow to cool slightly. Stir in the parmesan cheese.
- In a separate pot steam the chopped kale until just wilted. set aside. Mix it with the turkey mixture.
Cook Pasta and Assemble
- Boil pasta shells according to package instructions for stuffed shells. Set oven to 375°F.Add 1 1/2 cups of butternut squash sauce in an even layer to the bottom of a 10-inch cast iron skillet.Scoop filling into pasta shells. (Be generous; you should be able to fit 1 to 1 1/2 heaping tablespoons in each.) Arrange filled pasta shells in the skillet. Top with remaining sauce, a thin layer of fontina/mozzarella .
- Bake the dish in the oven for 30 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the pasta has warmed though.
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Made this last night, swapped the kale for spinach. Great recipe.