Jumbo pasta shells stuffed with asparagus, peas and ricotta mixture.
I am not sure if you guys noticed but I have been kind of irregular with my blog these days. I am also hardly there on the social media, a lot has been going on due to which I was unable to find time for the blog. I went to India for 3 weeks and returned just yesterday. It’s been a very tiring 3 weeks, the trip was unplanned and sudden so I didn’t even have any recipe back up. Actually I had some recipes in my draft but neither had the time nor the energy/motivation to write something and that’s why things have been really slow around here. But now that I am back, I wanted to cook something at home and what better than pasta to get back on the cooking track?
Pasta is probably the easiest thing you can make for dinner. And it’s so versatile, you can make it with veggies, without any veggies, with only cheese or whatever you fancy. No wonder it’s so popular everywhere! I always prefer homemade pasta sauce but when you are dead tired after such a long flight, you might not always have the energy to make it from scratch. And honestly you don’t even need to make it from scratch because now you have RAGÚ® Homestyle Pasta Sauces! It’s thick and hearty and has the same made-from-scratch taste!
Since asparagus and peas are in season, I made these stuffed pasta shells. The jumbo pasta shells are stuffed with asparagus, peas and ricotta cheese mixture and then baked with RAGÚ® Homestyle Thick and Hearty Traditional Sauce. Do you guys like pasta shells?
I think they are awesome, first because you can make them in advance and they feed a crowd and second because they look fancy without much effort. And any thing which looks fancy without much prep work is always a winner in my book. If you have never cooked shells before here’s a tip – under-cook them so that they don’t break or get too mushy when you fill them. In fact I cut short the cooking time by 2 minutes from what was mentioned on my pasta box. This way they remain firm and are easy to fill.
Method
Cook the pasta shells according to instructions on the package and set aside. In a pan heat 1 tablespoon of oil. Once the oil is hot add chopped garlic and onion and saute for 2 minutes.
Add chopped asparagus and cook for a minute
Add green peas, salt and pepper. Cook the peas and mash them little with the back of your spatula. Cover and cook till peas and asparagus are softened.
Transfer asparagus and peas mixture to a bowl. Add ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, dried basil, oregano, parsley and red chili flakes. Also add salt and black pepper.
Mix till everything is well combined. Adjust the seasoning to taste at this point.
Now carefully fill the pasta shells with the mixture. Fill them generously, you will be able to stuff 15-16 pasta shells out of this mixture.
Take a 13 x 9 inch baking pan and place 1.5 cups of RAGÚ® Homestyle Thick and Hearty Traditional Sauce on the bottom.
Now place the stuffed jumbo pasta shells on top of the sauce.
Pour the remaining RAGÚ® sauce on top of the shells. Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese. 
Bake at 350 F degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Garnish with some fresh basil leaves and serve stuffed pasta shells immediately.
* Adjust mozzarella cheese to taste and preference. I have used very little, you may use up to 1.5 cups of it.
Asparagus & Peas Stuffed Pasta Shells
Ingredients
- 15 jumbo shells
- 1/2 lb asparagus trimmed and cut into small rounds
- 1 small red onion finely chopped
- 2-3 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 10 oz green peas
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt & black pepper to taste
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese I use vegetarian parmesan
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
- 23 oz pasta sauce I used RAGÚ® Homestyle Thick and Hearty Traditional Sauce
- 2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
- Cook the pasta shells according to instructions on the package and set aside. In a pan heat 1 tablespoon of oil. Once the oil is hot add chopped garlic and onion and saute for 2 minutes.
- Add chopped asparagus and cook for a minute
- Add green peas, salt and pepper. Cook the peas and mash them little with the back of your spatula. Cover and cook till peas and asparagus are softened.
- Transfer asparagus and peas mixture to a bowl. Add ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, dried basil, oregano, parsley and red chili flakes. Also add salt and black pepper.
- Mix till everything is well combined. Adjust the seasoning to taste at this point.
- Now carefully fill the pasta shells with the mixture. Fill them generously, you will be able to stuff 15-16 pasta shells out of this mixture.
- Take a 13 x 9 inch baking pan and place 1.5 cups of RAGÚ® Homestyle Thick and Hearty Traditional Sauce on the bottom.
- Now place the stuffed jumbo pasta shells on top of the sauce.
- Pour the remaining RAGÚ® sauce on top of the shells. Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Bake at 350 F degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Garnish with some fresh basil leaves and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Asparagus & Peas Stuffed Pasta Shells
Good recipe, but if I recommend Lucini Organic Pasta sauce if you must use sauce from a jar. When i make Shepherds pie, i add in Asparagus tips and sundried tomatoes to kick it up a notch as apposed to just peas and carrots.
lovely recipe