Sam, the nurse, told me of this recipe she made from Pillsbury.com that was stuffed shells and you use two different sauces. I was listening. I love stuffed pasta, Ravioli, Tortellini, Manicotti, Stuffed Shells and Cannelloni. She then went on to say she stuffed the shells with cottage cheese and cubed chicken. I was then appalled. Cottage cheese? Sam said it was very good. I wasn’t so convinced. I couldn’t come around eating a stuffed shell with solely cottage cheese even if there was chicken in it. Also cubed chicken? I couldn’t get my taste buds grooving to that. I told her I would make the recipe but I ‘m changing it to ricotta and ground up chicken breast. So, I did, and I liked it.
I grilled the chicken while getting the shells ready and while everything was cooking I got the filling going. I used a Ziploc gallon bag and threw everything into it and mashed the ingredients together. Now snip a corner off, the bigger the hole the harder it is to handle. This makes piping and clean up easy. If you want, you can do it the old fashion way and lovingly spoon the filling into the shells. When I was following the recipe I only put in a cup of ricotta and needed a little more, so maybe a cup and ½ of ricotta. My barely surviving window basil plant wasn’t enough fresh basil so I add some dry basil to it. I really like the combination of two sauces and didn’t think I was going to, even Barry liked it and he’s against alfredo sauce. I think this recipe is a keeper. Here is the recipe as is; the tips at the bottom came with it. This again, is one of those meals you could serve with salad and bread-sticks and nice glass of milk (or wine).
Chicken-Stuffed Shells with Two Sauces
Prep Time: 20 Min
Total Time: 1 Hr 5 Min
Makes: 6 servings
INGREDIENTS
18 uncooked jumbo pasta shells
¾ cup lightly packed chopped fresh basil leaves
3 cups diced cooked chicken breast (about 1 lb)
1 cup small-curd cottage cheese
1 egg
2 cups tomato pasta sauce
1 container (10 oz) refrigerated Alfredo sauce
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
DIRECTIONS
1 Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. Cook the pasta to what it says on the box.
2 In medium bowl, mix 1/2 cup of the basil leaves, the chicken, cottage cheese and egg. Spoon about 1 good size tablespoon mixture into each cooked pasta shell.
3 Pour pasta sauce into baking dish; and tilt the dish to evenly coat bottom. Place filled shells over sauce, filled sides up. Drizzle Alfredo sauce over shells. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Cover tightly with foil.
4 Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and shells are hot. Sprinkle with remaining basil.
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