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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