Friday, October 12, 2012

Pumpkin-Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Several months ago a client told me about a pumpkin-stuffed shell recipe she made. I never did get the recipe from her, but I was reminded of the recipe the other day and decided to look for a similar version online.


For those of you who are following a low FODMAP diet, this recipe is not low FODMAPs.

Pumpkin-Ricotta Stuffed Shells
Makes 8 servings
This recipe is based on one from Country Living magazine.
24 jumbo pasta shells
1 tablespoon garlic extra-virgin olive oil
22 ounces ricotta cheese
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 large egg white
1 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped sage
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 jar (26 ounces) purchased tomato sauce (

** If you want to use regular olive oil and whole cloves of garlic (instead of using garlic olive oil and zero garlic cloves), go ahead! Just use the same amount of olive oil mentioned in the recipe (regular olive oil, not garlic), but add 2 minced cloves of garlic in step two below.**

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Transfer to a baking sheet. Drizzle with oil.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together ricotta, pumpkin, 3/4 cup parmesan and all remaining ingredients except tomato sauce.
4. Fill each pasta shell with pumpkin-ricotta mixture. Spread the jar of sauce in bottom of 13-by-9-inch pan (leave about 1 cup of the sauce to add on top of the shells). Arrange the shells in pan (seam-side up).
5. Top the shells with the last cup of the sauce and then cover pan with foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil. Sprinkle shells with remaining parmesan. Bake 15 minutes longer.




These were so good that I forgot to take a picture of them on my plate. Oops. Moral of the story; make these today!


QUESTION: Have you ever stuffed a shell? What did you stuff it with? What's your favorite stuffed shell recipe?

Today is my "Friday" because I get Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday off. Needless to say, I'm extremely excited! It's been a long week for me (in a very good way because I've been very busy at work) and I plan on finishing all of my Christmas shopping over the "weekend". I do love having the ability to shop on weekdays.

Enjoy your week everyone! I'll be back on Wednesday with a fantastic salmon recipe.


13 comments :

  1. Today is my Friday, too! I'm heading to Chicago for the rest of the week - I'm excited!

    These shells look amazing! I'm sad pumpkin is no longer littering the blogosphere!!

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  2. oh I love this idea of adding pumpkin!

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  3. Yum!! These sounds delicious. I've yet to make stuffed shells. When I was little, my mom once did a version with tofu, and I loved it. I'm going to have to experiment with my own before pumpkin runs out!

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  4. Yum!! These sounds delicious. I've yet to make stuffed shells. When I was little, my mom once did a version with tofu, and I loved it. I'm going to have to experiment with my own before pumpkin runs out!

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  5. These look so good!
    I've never made stuffed shells, but I do enjoy eating them :)

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  6. Such a neat idea! I love stuffed shells and my mom used to always make a giant batch of them stuffed with lots and lots of cheese.

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  7. These look ridiculously good! I have made stuffed shells once and I used turkey and veggies and drowned them in marinara sauce. This looks very good- wonder if I could sub butternut squash since I have that on hand.

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  8. These look awesome. I usually just do ricotta and spinach, but I think I will need to try these. I just need to find a good time to cook because I would rather eat them now than pile them up in the freezer. I really need to get back into cooking regularly, but our schedules have been so crazy recently.

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  9. Omigosh, this looks soo good. Why is pumpkin delicious added to ANYTHING?!

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  10. I was hoping to find a dish that I could bring to my in-laws on Christmas Eve since they serve meat and I've converted to a vegetarian diet. Gina to the rescue!!!

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  11. That looks so good! And I love that you'll get a lot of leftovers from that. Yeah you for getting some time off. I'll be off for 10 days at the end of the year and I am beyond excited!

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  12. Love the idea of adding pumpkin. (I've done ricotta with spinach before) Have a wonderful few days off Gina!!!!

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  13. Anything stuffed has got to be good! Looks fabulous...fun pics! I'm looking forward to your Salmon post...me heart salmon!!!

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