Ciao! Want to prepare an Italian style feast for your family but don't know where to start or even a base dish to focus around? Well, look no further, my friends, because today we will create a hearty Italian Sausage Stuffed Shell dish like no other! As usual, this can be made completely from scratch, or you can save some time and use a few premade store ingredients, but no matter how amazing or lazy you choose to be, the entire family will end up fat, full, and happy you gave it a try! Sit back, relax, and grab some snacks as I walk you through this delightful main course. It may look like something straight from Giada De Laurentiis's kitchen, but it's actually quite simple and straightforward enough any home chef can recreate this masterpiece!
The first part of this recipe we need to knock out are the shells themselves. Bring a pot of water up to a boil and add several tablespoons of kosher salt. Drop your shells and cook them until al dente, but no longer than 8 minutes. Once stuffed, they will be baked later on so you definitely just need to get them pliable enough to spread open and fill at this point. Also, go ahead and cook an extra dozen or so shells than the recipe calls for because a few are sure to break open, and besides, they can be flattened out and used with any leftover filling mixture like a standard lasagna type dish. Or you might get lucky and just end up with an extra half sheet tray of the same delicious stuffed shells to help fill your family's second and third helpings they will keep coming back and requesting! Once the shells boil away for 8 minutes, remove them from the heat and rinse with cold water to stop any further cooking. Drain them thoroughly and set them aside while we move on to preparing the filling for those bad boys.
Italian sausage is predominately made with pork, so to balance things out a bit I decided to do a 50-50 blend of Italian sausage and ground beef. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the sausage and beef until no longer pink. Add some Italian seasoning about half way through the cooking process and mix it in thoroughly. Once the meat is about finished cooking, add the diced onions and minced garlic and continue to cook until the onions are translucent and the garlic fragrance begins to perfume the kitchen. Remove from the heat and drain any excess grease. Set aside to begin cooling.
In a separate large mixing bowl, combine 3/4 of the Italian cheese blend, grated parmesan, cream cheese, and egg. Stir everything together until well blended. Once the meat has cooled somewhat, add everything together and mix until combined.
At this point, you are going to want to set up a 3 piece station of sorts, like you would for breading chicken or pork. On the far left, place your drained shells so they are easy to grab. Put your sausage and cheese filling mixture in the middle and on the far right place a large baking tray to place your stuffed shells as you fill each one. Before you start stuffing any shells, grab a couple ladles of your own marinara sauce, a store bought sauce, or my personal favorite, this simple roasted garlic marinara that can be made ahead of time, and coat the bottom of your baking pan to prevent any shells burning or getting stuck to the tray. Stuff each shell with a couple tablespoons of filling until your baking tray has a full single layer, about 21-24 fully stuffed shells. This is a bit of a time consuming task, but it will pay off in the long run. Once the tray is full, ladle more sauce over everything to cover all the shells. You can go heavy or light with the extra sauce as you or your family prefers, but at least try to get a basic 90% coverage to keep the pasta shells from burning during the baking process. You will almost undoubtedly end up with extra shells and filling so enjoy a bonus smaller tray of stuffed shells for a few extra leftovers!
Bake the shells uncovered in a 375 degree Fahrenheit oven for 35 minutes. After the initial bake is complete, sprinkle the remaining shredded Italian cheese blend over all the shells and return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes or so, until the cheese is melted.
And just like that, you have created one hell of an Italian main dish for your family to feast upon! Scoop out 2-3 stuffed shells per serving and top with some fresh basil to fully get that Giada style on the plate! If your family doesn't go crazy over these Italian sausage stuffed shells, then you need to consider moving out and looking for a new family because yours is clearly insane! Try this recipe out and let me know what you and your family thought of it. Don't forget, you can prep everything ahead of time and freeze it before cooking or just have it ready to throw in the oven from the refrigerator when you get home from work the next day. I hope you enjoy and as always, try it out, make it how you like, but just keep cooking!
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